Glitch Between Worlds
by RedFluff
Summary: Breach takes a turn for the worst, putting Ruby in an accident. She awakens in a new world, familiar yet strange. This place is called Earth. What happens when she meets two people claiming to have created her?
1. Prologue

**A/N Hello everyone! Welcome to another story of mine.**

 **This story will be updated somewhat weekly, if I don't procrastinate. Feel free to point out any mistakes/typos I may have made while writing.**

 **Please be patient for the next updates because I've got a lot of studying to do this week. Some of you may know about my history with schedules but I'll try my best.**

 **This story inspired by the Emergence Series by Chris7221.**

 **~Description~**

Breach takes a turn for the worst, putting Ruby in an accident. She awakens in a new world, familiar yet strange. This place is called Earth. What happens when she meets two people claiming to have created her?

 **Enjoy~**

 **EDIT: 2/23/16  
Minor changes**

* * *

 ** _~Prologue~_**

Yang grit her teeth in frustration. The Beowulf let out a might roar, striking fear into the hearts of the citizens of Vale.

The Beowulf charged, its claws reaching out towards her in an alarmingly fast rate.

"Wait of it..." she muttered, eyes narrowed in sharp lilac discs. Yang leapt to the side, preparing Ember Celica in midair and landing in a crouch. Her gauntlets flew towards the creature of Grimm and launched the flaming projectile, each finding a hole inside of the Grimm's flesh.

The Beowulf let out one pitiful roar before collapsing, dissipating into the dark mist that Yang had grown accustomed to.

A flash of white and blue flew in her direction, flying by beside her in quick succession. Yang turned to meet Weiss' blade, Myrtenaster. The white and blue became shapes, forming the jagged shape of ice. The trail of ice held the soulless creatures trapped in a cage of solid water.

"We can't hold off this hoard any longer," Weiss stated, her lips pursed into a thin line, mimicking the scar that ran down her pale blue left eye.

Yang reluctantly nodded, her eyes roaming the streets for any sign of the Grimm that terrorized the civilians. She spotted her partner atop of the black head of a King Taijitsu.

Blake's ribbon was wrapped around the snake-like Grimm, forcing it backwards. Yang could see the gnashes the ribbon was making on the creature's neck. The white head of the King Taijitsu snapped at Blake, the latter dodging the attack as the fangs disappeared inside of the head of the black head.

Letting out a faint breath of relief for the cat faunus, Yang searched the city for her sister. It wasn't particularly hard to spot a massive sniper-scythe being held by a tiny 15 year old. The red tips of Ruby's black hair clung to her face like seaweed as she brought her scythe down on two Grimm at once.

The familiar sound of a glyph forming rang beside her as Weiss used her semblance to take down an Ursa that got a bit too close while Yang was on the search for the remaining members of team RWBY. The sharp point of Myrtenaster delved deep into the Ursa's hind, leaving the beast vulnerable.

Ruby appeared beside the heiress in a blur of red roses. Clutching Crescent Rose firmly, she sped at the Ursa, catching it in the inside of her blade. Using the sniper's recoil to good use, she promptly cut the Grimm in half.

Blake came into focus as Ruby's roses began to settle. The team formed into their stances, each member back to back with each other.

The cat faunus readied Gambol Shroud as a Deathstalker approached their position. "The breach is too big for us to contain."

Yang took a quick glance at her scroll, reading everybody's aura levels. Currently Blake's aura was the highest with Weiss and Yang tied for second. The most worrying thing was that Ruby's was the lowest, her yellow bar was slowing turning into a bright orange. Yang frowned.

"Ruby, stay back." Yang ordered, her big-sister instincts coming out in the heat of battle.

"But why?" she whines, reloading her weapon in a flourish. "I can still fight."

"Your aura levels are the lowest out of all of us. It's only common sense to stay back." Weiss said in the same condescending matter she'd used when they first met. Ruby opened her mouth to protest but thought better of it. She sheepishly moved back and let the other three members of her team fill the gap that she'd made.

"Okay, I'll stay back. You guys better be okay," she said, and in a blur of red she planted her scythe on the ground, training her sniper sights on the many Grimm that the four were facing.

Ruby's fingers instinctively prepared the shot, her hands guiding the scope with experience.

" _First you aim, a very important part of the process that binds a weapon and its wielder together."_

 _"Don't put your finger on the trigger until you're certain that this shot will penetrate your target."_

Ruby's hand slid down the side of her sniper, placing her fingers around the area of the trigger.

 _"Take a deep breath,"_

Ruby closed her eyes briefly and took in a breath, letting her lungs soak up oxygen before opening her silver irises.

 _"Then you fire."_

The muscles in her trigger finger tightened, bringing the bones closer to the lever that would release the deadly round.

Crescent Rose's mechanism worked quickly, the bullet shot down the barrel of the sniper. The long projectile flew through the air. Then it met the unsuspecting Beowulf in the head, the sound of flesh breaking rang in Ruby's ears.

All of this happened in half a second as Ruby did the same process to a few dozen Beowolves.

Yang expended all her ammo on a single Deathstalker that was currently battling her faunus friend. Blake was dodging expertly, using her shadow clones to deceive the scorpion Grimm.

The Deathstalker, fueled by its increasing frustration, flung its pointed tail into the huntress-in-training. The Grimm's tail dug into the ground in front of Blake, the latter speeding up the Deathstalker's tail and leaping off the limb, digging Gambol Shroud into the split between the armored plates of its head, killing it instantly.

Yang's arms hung limply down her sides, reliving her tensed muscles for a brief moment.

Far above the battle a dark mist was starting to form. It was the result of thousands of Grimm decaying into odorless smoke.

Yang's lilac eyes lazily roamed the battle scene. Civilians cowered in fear in shops and houses. Doctor Oobleck was protecting a young man and woman whom have been standing in the square when the attack began.

A loud screech resounded from the sky. Looking up she managed to make out black figures in the troposphere. Small Nevermores soared through the sky, lowering their altitude at an alarmingly fast rate.

Blake returned to the group, panting from exhaustion. "Nevermores," she gasped, stating the obvious.

Yang sighed tiredly, "I ran out of ammo, so I can't help you there."

"We're losing," Blake said quietly.

Their team leader looked at them, worriedly. "We won't go down without a fight."

Yang looked at her baby sister, wondering how much time had passed when she was just a small toddler. "Alright, then."

Ruby nodded and turned away, sniping the heads of multiple Beowolves in under 5 seconds.

Blake glanced at Yang, the latter raising a brow. "What?"

"You kind of spaced out for a moment there."

"Oh really?" Yang laughed embarrassed. "Sorry."

Blake shook her head. "No, it's okay. I was just wondering what you were thinking about."

Yang cracked a small smile, "I was just thinking about how much Ruby changed."

Blake was silent, staring into space. Yang shuffled awkwardly, maybe she'd said the wrong thing?

"Is-is that how it's like having a sister?"

Yang paused, caught off guard by the question. "I-I guess so."

Weiss let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Clutching Myrtenaster in her hand she stabbed a Boarbatusk in the stomach with expert agility. Pulling her sword from the Grimm she scanned the area for any Grimm in the vicinity.

Blue eyes trained on the bumblebee duo. "Hey, you brainless brute!"

Yang glanced around before spotting Weiss hunched over a Boarbatusk. "Yeah?"

"We've been fighting Grimm while you two have just been talking!"

"Didn't your rich father ever tell you to not intrude into conversations?" Blake shot, exhaustion taking its toll in her words.

Weiss growled, "He was a selfish husband and a father that did absolutely nothing for us."

"He did everything he could to us. How could you live knowing that he was the reason why so many faunus cower in fear?"

"Cower in fear? They only tore my family even further apart!"

Blake gripped Gambol Shroud tightly, letting out a cat-like hiss.

"You tore my _species_ apart!"

Yang looked between the two, panic rising up inside of her.

They shouldn't be fighting, not now.

As the heiress and the faunus glared at each other with a rising intensity, nobody had seen the Ursa until it was too late.

"Yang!" Weiss screamed, her eyes travelling to a spot behind her. Yang immediately leapt out of the way, missing the Ursa by a hair.

The Ursa was massive, armored plates covered each limb of its body. It must've been centuries old. Its blood red eyes glowed as a light in the darkness. The Ursa rounded back again, facing Yang with a monstrous roar. In her dazed state, Yang identified the Ursa as a Mega Ursa from Professor Port's class. Weiss and Blake, both reeling from the surprise attack, were too stunned to act before the Mega Ursa charged at the distracted blonde.

Yang jumped sloppily, yet still managing to escape the route of the Mega Ursa. But instead of the Ursa rounding back to attack again, it kept moving forwards. Yang craned her head to see the events unfold.

Until she spotted a red cape, billowing in the path of the Ursa.

"RUBY!" Yang screeched, her hand reaching out towards her.

Ruby turned, a jovial grin on her face as she turned to meet her teammates. But instead of the faces of her sister, the heiress and the ex-WhiteFang member, she met the sight of the Mega Ursa, charging at a speed that would've set her Semblance to shame.

She froze, her breath became shallow. The world blurred around her, the sound of the battlefield droned low in her ears. A pounding was present. It took Ruby some time to realize the pounding was the beat of her heart, slow yet strong. Her lungs refused to work, only taking in small amounts of oxygen at a time.

The red eyes put her in a trance. Ruby felt the absence of aura in the beast's soul. Grimm were soulless creatures, yet Ruby failed to comprehend what that actually meant. Now she knew.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as the Ursa drew closer. The Grimm and the huntress-in-training collided, pain exploded in Ruby's chest where the Ursa came into contact. The force flew her into a shop, glass shattering upon impact.

The Mega Ursa howled in triumph, noticing the drop of aura in the girl's body. Its triumph was short-lived, blasts of fire shot straight into its body. Zwei appeared in front of it, his teeth bared in a snarl. Nobody can hurt his owners and get away with it. Nobody.

The fire spread, consuming the Mega Ursa. Ashes took the place of the beast. What was left, disintegrated into dark mist that joined the fog that lay above.

The team fell apart. Grimm attacked the shocked remainder of team RWBY. The Grimm injured the three severely, each struggled under the attack of the beasts. All Yang could see was the black masses of Grimm and the blood she spilt.

Amongst the chaos, Yang heard the sound of aura breaking. First Weiss, then Blake, and finally herself.

The black mass cleared in a burst of fire. Doctor Oobleck appeared in front of Yang, noting each of her injuries in quick succession.

"No, no, no. Glynda will have my head if one of you dies." The doctor muttered, dragging each of team WBY under safe cover.

A loud drone grew in Yang's ears, an airship landed in the square. Sounds of gunfire could be heard, ridding of the remaining Grimm. She let out a sigh, a pain in her ribs throbbing.

Yang's eyelids closed heavily, escaping the horrors of the soulless creatures of Grimm.

Jaune blocked the attack with his shield, the force of the Ursa's paw weighing heavily on the metal. The Ursa was thrown off balance, stumbling backwards. With a grunt, Jaune drove his sword into the thick, black fur.

Pulling his sword from the corpse, Jaune Arc stood back. He wiped his brow, panting with effort.

"That training Pyrrha is giving you is really improving your fighting."

"Ah!" Jaune screamed, his voice becoming high pitched for a second. Lie Ren hid a small smile.

"Oh, uh," the blonde grinned sheepishly, "Sorry about that. Didn't see you there."

"I have that effect on people," Ren said, sliding Stormflower into his long sleeves. "I meant it though."

Jaune watched as Ren's green, sleek weapons disappear into his sleeves. "Oh, uh yeah, thanks."

Ren shook his head, amused at how flustered his team leader always seemed to be. "Team CFVY seemed to have wiped out most of the Grimm here."

Jaune nodded, his mind flashing back to the moment Coco unveiled her machine gun. "Yeah, though I wonder what's in Velvet's box."

Ren blinked a few times and looked at Jaune in a moment of confusion. He always prided himself in observing people, though he didn't imagine that Jaune would notice such a small object from so far away.

"Yes, it's very intriguing," he recovered before Jaune could ask any questions. Contrary to what Ren thought earlier, Jaune didn't pay attention to Ren's moment of puzzlement.

"H-have you heard from team RWBY?" Jaune asked, twiddling his fingers worriedly.

Ren shook his head. Team RWBY had apparently been injured in the battle. They'd taken out most of the Grimm before they'd arrived.

"I only saw Weiss, Blake and Yang. Did you see Ruby?"

Aha, there it was. Jaune was worried for Ruby. Not surprising as the two team leaders had grown a relationship similar to a brother and sister. Ren also knew that Pyrrha had been extremely nervous whenever Ruby would approach Jaune, though he thought it was impossible for the two leaders to be in an intimate relationship.

"I'm afraid I don't know where Ruby is at the moment, Jaune." Ren said, watching his face carefully.

Jaune was very easy to read. He didn't seem like the person to lie to anyone.

"Oh, well then. I-I guess we'll go back to the airship then. See if she's there." Jaune shuffled awkwardly.

"Very well," Ren nodded, stepping back, "You lead the way."

Jaune flashed Ren a smile, appreciating the fact that Ren saw him as a worthy leader. "Alright."

The two members of team JNPR made their way back to the square. Jaune looked up, blinking at the fog that billowed above.

"Whoa," he breathed.

"Slightly ominous but fitting for the environment," Ren remarked, also studying the dark mass, "It seems to be a massive cloud of fog that the Grimm turn into after their deaths."

"Imagine if it's actually a massive Grimm that's going to gobble us up, like a boss fight," Jaune craned his head to get a better look at the cloud.

"I would rather not."

Jaune turned and smiled widely at the stoic man. "C'mon loosen up. As your team leader, I order you to have some fun."

Ren stared at his leader, "Once again, I would rather not."

"Ooh Ren, I want you to have fun too!"

A bouncing orange haired girl appeared beside the two, one arm over Ren's shoulders.

"Um Nora? No."

Nora pouted, looking at Ren with the biggest puppy dog eyes in the world. "Pretty please?"

Ren turned away, shaking his head, "No."

Jaune chuckled, "Ren, you have a heart of stone. How do you do that?"

Ren shrugged. "I've known her my entire life," he said as Nora appeared on Ren's back, grinning at Jaune with two thumbs up.

"I think that's the reason."

The three turned to meet the last remaining member of team JNPR. Pyrrha smiled warmly at the sight of Ren and Nora.

"Yeah, I guess so." Jaune laughed as Nora began to fix Jaune's hair.

"Jaune! Why is your hair all wet?"

"I think that's sweat, Nora," Ren replied casually.

"What? Ew!" Nora howled, wiping her fingers into Ren's sleeve.

Jaune observed the space around them. Currently, they were beside an airship that'd brought them all in here. Team CFVY were out, searching for survivors and wiping out the last of the Grimm in the city. Other teams were absent, either on a mission or helping out another part of the city.

Professor Goodwitch was cleaning up the mess, repairing shops and buildings. The hole was still present, small parts of it were covered up.

News vans had arrived at the scene to capture live news of the breach. Cameras and microphones were shoved into Professor Port's face as he spoke about the situation. The sound of sirens were heard from time to time, as the medics loaded the injured onto the ambulances.

Jaune spotted a medic treating team –WBY. He gestured to his team to follow him as he began his way to JNPR's sister team.

Blake caught sight of him first, a ghost of a smile at her lips, "Hello, Jaune."

"Uh, hi," he said awkwardly, "How're you doing?"

Blake chuckled, then stopped abruptly. Jaune looked at her weirdly.

"It hurts to laugh," she replied quietly.

"You look like you've been through hell," Jaune said, now noticing that bandages that wrapped around her torso. His eyes observed further and he gasped at his findings.

"Yeah, I know," Blake said, twitching her cat ears that were now fully visible atop her head. Somewhere in the chaos, she'd lost her bow. Doctor Oobleck didn't seem to be so surprised at it, yet the same cannot be said for the other students that came to help during the breach.

Then Nora suddenly appeared next to Blake, almost giving her the fright of her life, "Ca-can I touch them?"

Blake blinked in surprise. Ren sighed, grabbing Nora away from the recently revealed cat faunus, "Nora, don't you think that might've been a bit offensive?"

Nora pouted, "But we've known for weeks and I haven't felt them yet!"

"Nora," Ren said warningly.

"Blake, I'm sorry," Nora apologized.

"That's okay, I guess."

"Now can I touch them?!"

"No."

Pyrrha put her hand on Nora's shoulder, "One day, Nora, why don't you get some water for our friends?"

Nora gasped, a wide smile forming on her face, "Yes! We can play doctors! C'mon Ren, we have to treat our patients!"

As the cheerful girl dragged the stoic man away, Pyrrha turned her attention to Blake, "Does it bother you? How Nora reacts to them, I mean."

Blake shook her head wearily, "No, I've dealt with discrimination my entire life. I know the difference between curiosity and racism."

Jaune let out a nervous chuckle, "Well, that's just plain old Nora, I guess."

"Pyrrha? Blake?"

Jaune heard the voice of an angel whisper in his ear. He turned to see the beautiful white princess awake from her slumber. Jaune knelt down beside Weiss, his face a picture of worry.

"Weiss?"

"Ugh, get out of my face you dunce," Weiss snapped at Jaune, the latter recoiling in shock.

"B-but, my sweet Snow Angel," he spluttered.

"Snow Angel? Ugh, only Neptune can call me that!"

"Oh c'mon!" Jaune yelled, throwing his arms in the air. Pyrrha looked on with curiosity.

"Weren't you the one who helped Neptune hook up with Weiss?" Blake asked.

"Oh yeah, I forgot," he stammered, his face turning into a shade of red.

Weiss looked on, a question in her eyes, "What was that?"

"Uh, nothing! Just Jaune being himself. So sorry about that," Pyrrha covered for the flustered blonde.

Weiss glared at Jaune, "I would punch him but my arm hurts too much."

Pyrrha looked down at the arm in question. Truthfully enough, the arm was covered in a sloppily made cast. Weiss' clothes were torn and battered, and her weapon was a mangled piece of metal at her side.

Weiss spotted Pyrrha observing Myrtenaster, or at least what was left of it, "I can order another one from the Schnee Dust Company, they can ship it to Beacon."

Blake's face darkened at the name of the company but didn't say anything further. The last time they argued, it tore the team apart.

Weiss noted Blake's reaction to her father's company but kept her mouth shut. That was another conversation at another time.

Then the monochrome pair blinked, realization striking them like a bolt of lightning.

"Ruby! What happened to Ruby?" Blake said, almost on the verge of shouting.

Jaune stared. "You mean you don't know where she is?"

"No!" They shouted in unison.

"Out of the way!" A voice bellowed.

Jaune turned, the sight before him almost stopping the rapid beating of his heart. Oobleck carried the body of a girl, her face a familiar sight, yet the blood that dripped around them was out of place.

Ruby's body was a bloody, matted mess. Blood had soaked her clothes, the rest splattering the sidewalk below her. Jaune saw no signs of life in the young girl's body.

Oobleck laid Ruby on one of the stretchers that were being loaded onto the airship. Medics scrambled to save her, almost tripping over themselves.

One medic pushed his way through the crowd, "Oobleck, what is this?! She's not alive, you brought back a corpse!"

"She's breathing, let me tell you that," Oobleck retaliated, wiping the blood from his hands to his pants.

"She's too far gone, we can't save her," the medic cried.

Cameras began to record the scene, all training their scopes on the presumably dead body.

"Why don't you do your job instead of just dillydallying? Why don't you actually try to save her?"

The medic spluttered angrily, "Because we can't save her!"

Doctor Oobleck was usually a rather cheerful man, but when one of his friends or students were hurt, he will not hesitate to save them. Even if it meant getting angry, one of the things he disliked the most.

"For the love of god, I will NOT let the daughter of Summer Rose die while I still have the power to save her." Oobleck snarled uncharacteristically.

The medic stepped back in shock. Seeing Oobleck mad was something you don't see every day.

"Get to work for crying out loud!"

The medic gulped nervously then rejoined his fellow medics in the quest to save the girl. They quickly loaded the 15 year old onto the Bullhead, blood still pouring onto the ground.

"Ruby?"

Yang whispered, only seeing just a glimpse of her beloved baby sister, injured and dying. Then she was gone, the blood on the ground was all that was left. For all she knew, Ruby could be dead.

The thought provoked an image in her head. She was back.

The Grimm leapt towards her, a deep guttural growl filled her ears. The world moved far too slowly for Yang.

Her bones were frozen, aching in pain and exhaustion from the walk. Her hand still clutched the handle of the wagon that carried her toddler sister.

 _"What would you have done?"_

Ruby's cries began to fill the air, overlapping the growls of the monstrous Grimm.

 _"If you had survived this night."_

 _"And Ruby didn't?"_

Yang returned to the hellish world she belonged to. And the thought of Ruby dead broke her. Yang's tears dripped down the sidewalk, a puddle of the substance forming on the ground.

As team JNPR tried to comfort the broken team, Yang's tears began to flow down the sidewalk, meeting Ruby's dark red blood.

The tears became the tears of blood that depicted Yang's sorrow.

 _"Every nightmare just discloses,"_

 _"It's your blood that's red like roses."_

* * *

 _"What would you have done?"_

 _"If you had survived this night."_

 _"And Ruby didn't?"_

 **This line was taken from Numbnut10's _Remnant Reclaimer_. Go check it out, it's awesome.**

 **And again, feel free to point out any mistakes. I'll try my best to respond to them.**


	2. Act 1 - The Arrival

**A/N Hello everybody! So for once, I am actually keeping up with my schedule. Hah! Who would've thought?**

 **If you're not familiar with Achievement Hunter or Rooster Teeth then you're going to be so confused so I suggest checking them out.**

 **I forgot to put the disclaimer so here it is!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, the Achievement Hunters, Rooster Teeth, Mountain Dew, Coke or any other things I mentioned.**

 **Oh and a small warning: Some Coarse Language because Achievement Hunter aka. Michael "Rage Quit" Jones.**

 **Please leave a review, follow or a favorite if this is up to your expectations.**

 **EDIT: 2/23/16  
Minor changes**

* * *

 _"Welcome to the world of bullshit my dear,_

 _You have arrived." - Elton John._

* * *

 **Earth**

"Cheers to Jack!"

The sound of their beers clinking with each other filled the air as the 6 men laughed joyfully.

"Pizza!" a British man yelled, "Pizza Party~!"

"Shut up dumbass," a 27 year old man nudged him in the side. "The pizza's for Jack."

The look on the brown haired man turned from happy to sad, "Aw…"

The other man laughed again, "Dude, it's not like we're going to let him eat it all."

Gavin cheered, "Alright! Let's do this!" he yelled, spilling his beer on the floor.

Michael joined in Gavin's laughing as he fixed his dark green beanie that sat snugly on his head. He swung his head towards the celebrating Jack to find a phone being pointed at him and Gavin.

Michael instinctively changed his demeanor and said, "Don't spill beer on my shirt dude! I got that cleaned yesterday!"

Gavin, who too saw the camera, let out a bird-like yelled and began to back away from the raging man.

"Yeah, you better run!" Michael shouted after him as Ryan panned the camera to record the screaming Brit.

Ryan let out a strangely maniacal laugh as he hovered his finger over the stop button, "Give me your milk, Gavy."

The camera swung towards Geoff putting up a thumbs up as he gulped down his beer, "If you want to see more of Gavin screaming, click on my beer!"

Ryan chuckled as he pressed the button, "Now, pizza!"

Gavin returned to the group, chuckling awkwardly as the bartenders and the many customers watched his screaming fit. No doubt that a few people thought he was insane or drunk.

Maybe even a bit of both.

"Here's your pizza guys," the bartender said as he slid the large pizza in front of Jack. He gave a sidelong look at Gavin who only smiled sheepishly. He shook his head, wondering why on earth he said that they could record in his bar.

Then again from what he heard, the content they made seemed to be entertaining. During the next few weeks, the bartender would be getting a couple more customers than usual.

"Thanks for the pizza dude!" Ray thanked as he handed over a 20 dollar bill. "Keep the change, might need to repay you for anything they could've caused."

The bartender blinked, that was 10 dollars more than he was supposed to pay! He gave Ray a glance.

Ray winked almost seductively. The bartender gave a small shudder and mumbled something under his breath. Nevertheless he still offered the Puerto Rican a drink, which Ray courteously denied.

"Sorry dude, I don't drink."

Geoff sided up next to Ray, "A little something that we need fixing."

"Nope, I've got to repay you somehow. How about a few drinks on me?"

Ray smiled and chuckled, "You naughty chef you. The rest can get another keg of beer. I'll get a bottle of Mountain Dew."

"Of course," he said, opening the freezer door, "Flavor?"

"Code Red, thanks."

The bartender handed over the cool drink, "My name's Jeff."

"Ray," the Puerto Rican grinned as he cracked open his Mountain Dew bottle.

As Jeff left the bar Geoff began laughing heartily, his mustache twitching with delight, "Bud, if you keep that up, you'll get us free drinks for days!"

Ray chuckled, "Well, I was a busy boy in a bar once," he said as he took a swig from his new drink. Ryan, who had been watching the exchange from afar, slapped Ray on the back, almost making him choke on his drink.

"My manipulative tendencies must be rubbing off, huh?"

"Also your temper," Ray coughed out, "You're lucky I didn't kill you."

"Like you could stop the mad king," Jack said through a mouthful of pizza. A piece of pepperoni was tangled in his beard, something Gavin spotted and immediately pointed out.

"Hey Michael, check out the beer man!" Geoff called, almost cradling the beer.

Michael shook his head, "Nope dude, I have to drive tonight."

Ray heard the conversation and told Jeff to get a Coke for him. Michael accepted the drink, giving Ray a small nod, "You got him under the ropes man."

The night was rather enjoyable. Having all 6 main members of Achievement Hunter hanging out outside of work was a rare occurrence. Although since they did come here to record Go, it still partially counted as a hangout.

Michael chuckled along at the proceedings, "Oh, we better get a picture!"

Ray laughed and brought out his phone, "Selfie!" he yelled as everyone gathered behind him.

"Everyone say, 'LEEEEETT'S PLAY!'"

"LEEEEET'S PLAY!"

"She's in a stable state."

These words were the only thing that rang true to Yang. The small glimmer of hope that she'll survive. Yang shifted her stare from the ground to the startled medic.

"What do you mean by stable?" Yang said, her voice barely above a whisper. The medic looked from Oobleck to the sorrowful sister. Eventually, after Oobleck's glares, the medic sighed and knelt down to talk to the broken girl.

"By stable I mean that we've stopped the bleeding. And she's still alive, just teetering between the world of the living and the dead."

Oobleck turned away, shaking his head at the medic's poor choice of words. Yang only dropped her head.

Yang's tears had run out long ago. JNPR still stood by –WBY's side and were watching carefully to stop Yang if she were to lash out.

The older sister had been curled up in the corner of the Bullhead they'd caught to get back to Beacon. Ruby's ship had arrived at the academy hours ago.

Weiss and Blake sat on the seats beside her. Blake would often shifted her gaze from time to time while Weiss stared out the window.

Both girls had the same feeling of guilt. Perhaps if they hadn't been so foolish to fight over something so irrelevant, Ruby would still be okay.

"Jaune."

Jaune faced the voice that called out his name. Professor Oobleck was approaching him, eyes tired and weary. He put a hand on his shoulder, "Perhaps you and your team should get some rest."

Jaune coughed before looking over Ruby's team. Yang's eyes met him, the only eye contact she'd made in ages. Her normally pristine hair was in a mess, something that Yang would never allow. Her lilac eyes had lost its brightness, becoming a greying purple.

Jaune shook her head, "I don't think so. They need our help."

"You've done a great deed today, supporting this team with a kindness that most teams don't possess," Oobleck said, his voice not of the cheerful man they've known. Jaune stared at the Beacon professor in a mixture of shock and confusion.

"I may seem like an insane man on caffeine but I am a hunter," the professor chuckled. "I think you should go, Jaune. Your team is tired."

"Not as tired at them!" Jaune exclaimed, protesting against his teacher.

"Yes, but tearing yourself apart to be there for them won't help you, or them in the long run."

Jaune opened his mouth to object but a glance at his own team stopped him. The negativity seemed to affect both team –WBY and his own team. One look at Nora's unusually sullen face changed his perspective completely.

"O-okay, we'll get some rest. But as soon as they need us, we'll come running."

The teacher smiled, his cheerful personality returning, "Of course."

"I'll see you later, Professor," Jaune waved, walking to his team to deliver the news.

"It's Doctor, I didn't earn a PhD for nothing, Mr Arc."

Doctor Oobleck watched as JNPR strode away as a whole. He heaved a sigh, now comes the hard part.

Treading carefully, Doctor Oobleck knelt down at Yang's side, "Ms Xiao Long?"

Yang grunted in response, turning her head away from the man.

Doctor Oobleck grinned, "You do realize that, as a doctor, I do have an understanding of the psychological area of doctoring."

Yang didn't reply.

Oobleck, now in a sitting position, observed her actions with an expert eye, "You had a run in with one of Torchwick's new henchmen didn't you?"

This earned a response from Yang, the anger returning into her eyes, "How did you know?"

"You don't like losing don't you?" Oobleck simply replied, dodging the question.

"I…No," she turned her head to face Bartholomew at last, "No, I don't."

"When did this dislike of losing formed?" Bartholomew asked.

Yang dropped her head down, burying her face into her knees, "I-It's not losing I'm afraid of actually. It's uh, more like the fear of losing people," she whispered.

Bart nodded understandingly, patting the young girl's arm, "That fear is shared by many, dear child."

Then he stood up, a wide smile forming on his face, "I've had enough of sadness today. I'm going to get a coffee. And also take a look at Zwei."

He tilted his head towards the monochrome pair that were silently watching the blonde haired girl on the floor, "Perhaps you two would like to join me?"

The two both shook their heads. "No thanks," they replied, worry evident in their voices.

Another nod from Oobleck and then he was gone, disappearing in a flash.

 **Earth**

"You had fun?"

Michael nodded, directing his focus from the road to his wife, "Yep, Ray kept on flirting with the bartender and Gavin got kinda drunk but-"

"Whoa, whoa wait what? Ray was flirting with the bartender?" Lindsay interrupted, a half chuckle coming through as well.

"Yep, had him crawling on the ground," Michael laughed at the memory.

"Wish I was there to see it. Hanging out with Jeremey and Matt at the office was kinda dull."

"Oh gods, the YouTube comments are coming true!" Michael quipped, gaining a laugh from Lindsay.

"Honestly though, they're great guys. Editing for a really long time just leave no time for conversations."

"Mhm," Michael said absently as the traffic light flashed green. The car began moving forwards when a red truck came blazing down the road, missing Michael and Lindsay's car by a few meters.

"Asshole!" Lindsay yelled out the window as the truck disappeared behind them.

"And I thought I was the rage quit guy," Michael laughed. Still though, if the truck had just moved a couple of meters to the right, it would've taken their car out.

Stopping at the next red light, Michael's mind began to wander. Hs eyes wandered up to the Austin night sky, a dark cloud covering the moon.

A flash of red caught his eye. He turned to the memorial park next to them on the left.

"Whoa, what is that kid doing there?" he remarked.

The kid was young, probably somewhere in high school. What caught his eye the most was the red cloak that was wrapped around her.

"Holy shit, is that a cosplayer?" Lindsay said, also seeing the girl in the park.

Michael blinked, the name escaping his mind for a moment, "Who? Ruby?"

"Yeah! That's a Ruby cosplayer! Look she even has the silver contacts!"

A chuckle escaped Michael's throat, spotting the subject of interest, "Dude, that's awesome! Who knew we could find a cosplayer in the middle of the night."

The black red tipped hair was tousled atop her head, her combat skirt was muddy and dirty but the fact that they'd found a fan in a park was amazing.

"Let's go greet her!" Lindsay said excitedly.

The girl shifted awkwardly in the most Ruby-ish way and placed a hand on a metal chair. She looked unsteady, her hands shivering in the moonlight.

Then the girl collapsed, landing on the ground in a heap. The red cloak covered her form, blocking her face from Michael and Lindsay's line of sight.

This brought the couple into overdrive, Michael pulling over at the side of the park.

"Shit!" Lindsay yelled, fumbling with her seatbelt. Michael, who unbuckled easily, leapt out of the car and ran towards the fallen cosplayer.

He approached the girl, hearing her dry and raspy coughing from a meter away.

"Hey kid? You look like you've been through hell."

Ruby awoke with a gasp. Her heart pounding like the thumps of a hoard of Goliaths. The pain in her chest was excruciating, burning her lungs in a blaze of fire. Her trachea closed up, refusing to let any air get past the massive lump in her throat.

Panic seized her, numbing her body, leaving her in a frozen state.

She saw nothing, light blinding her in the midst of all the pain. In her panic she grappled at her chest, expecting to find the wound that the Mega Ursa inflicted on her body.

Except there was none, her skin was untouched.

The panic ebbed away, her heart slowed its beating. Her lungs started up again, absorbing the nutrient her body truly needed. The light faded.

Ruby's surroundings were nothing but a blur of black and green. The feeling returned to her body, the touch of grass beneath her made its appearance.

Wait, grass?

Shapes began to form around her, the black taking the deep blue shade of the night sky, and the green melding into the grass and trees that fenced the cleared area she was currently laying in.

Immediately, Ruby's huntress instincts kicked into action. She scanned the deep shadows for Grimm amongst the trees. Her panic must've sent Grimm running in her direction.

There were no signs of Grimm around her, no red eyes gleaming in the darkness with the desire to devour her soul.

With the absence of Grimm, Ruby began her attempts to stand up, rolling over in a prone state. The impact of the Mega Ursa had shocked her badly, the action of just standing up throwing the world around her into turmoil.

Eventually, her legs began to work again as she stumbled towards a lone tree to support her. She leant against the tree, catching her breath as her dazed eyes once again scanned the area.

A pathway. Yes, that's good. Right?

She walked, stumbling across to the pathway like a drunken man.

A drunken man like her father? No, he changed. He's not going to drink himself dead again. Right?

Her mind began to wander, thoughts and images flashing in her mind as the situation shot her like a bullet.

 _Where was Yang? And Blake? And Weiss? Where were her team? What happened to the Mega Ursa? Where was she?_

She fell, on what she probably would never know. For a moment she just lay there, watching the world spin around her. Her cloak billowed over her, covering her body in a blanket of red. The world was warping in an insane cycle, throwing her brain into a mad frenzy. The dizziness made bile rise up to her throat. She coughed, the foul substance being sprayed into the earth.

"Ugh," she choked out, closing her eyes in an attempt to stop the pivoting of the earth.

"Hey kid? You look like you've been through hell."

Her eyes flew open, surprise jolting her into awareness. Her brain had a hard time catching up, the figure before her was distorted and blurry.

"Who are you?!" Ruby yelled, backing away in fright, pain burning in her muscles.

"Hey, I'm just trying to help."

"I-I don't need your help!"

The panic set in again, her eyes desperately looking for an escape, "Please just leave me alone!"

The still distorted figure shook his head, the sharp movement throwing stabs of pain into her head. Ruby's rapid breathing was the only thing she heard in her ears.

"Why are you so afraid of me?"

The figure finally came into view, the orange color of his jacket blinding her momentarily. The mysterious man came closer, putting his hand on Ruby's shoulder. His touch was like electricity, sending jolts of fear through the child's heart.

"Where am I!? Who are you!?"

"Kid! It's me, Michael!"

The name sounded strangely familiar to Ruby, yet she had no recollection of any person named Michael before, "I don't know any Michael!"

"Really? Then you must know about Lindsay."

"Who's Lindsay!? Please I just want to go home! My team, they need me!"

"Look kid, I don't know what game you're playin' at but this isn't a joke."

"No! It's not a joke! The city, it's been overrun! You need to get out of here!"

The man paused.

Ruby studied his face in the midst of all the madness. He was youthful, glasses adorned his face. His hair was a curly brown and his orange jacket seemed to be more brown than orange.

Ruby could only hope that he'd take his advice.

"W-would this city be called Vale?" He spluttered, almost disbelieving.

Ruby's frustrations flew through the roof, "Yes! Of course it is! You live here!"

Michael's mouth gaped open, the weight on her arm slackened, "You sure?"

"Yes! We need to get out of here!"

Michael shook his head slowly, "I-I…"

He sighed, "May as well play along, I guess." He mumbled, confusing the poor girl even more.

"Alright, I'll carry you to safety." Michael said, wrapping his arms around the girl to lift her up. Ruby was heavier than she looked, but not enough to stop the mighty Mogar.

This did nothing to calm the frantic girl though, "Where are you taking me?"

Michael gave Ruby a look and huffed, "I don't know. Maybe because we're not in Vale or Remnant or any of that stuff! It's fiction."

He sighed again, "Look, just calm down. I'll take you to my car and you can meet Lindsay."

"You scared the living shit out of us, just collapsing on the ground. We thought you were dead, and we weren't going to just leave a fan out there."

"A fan?" Ruby asked, her voice getting weaker and weaker. The earlier panic had taken the energy away from her, not to mention the fact that her aura was already out of juice.

"Why do you not have an aura?" she mumbled, half-asleep. The adrenaline was the only thing that kept her going this far.

"Because you're not in Remnant anymore."

"Where am I then?"

Michael let out a small grin.

"Welcome to Earth, Ms Rose."

"You are such a cliché." Lindsay remarked when Michael's voice rang out from the park.

"Heh, I try," he grinned at his wife, the latter opening the back seat door.

Michael carried a sleeping Ruby into the car, placing her gently onto the seats. As Michael returned to the front seat, Lindsay paused to wipe off any bile from Ruby's face.

"Jesus, what happened to her?"

Michael shook his head despairingly, "I don't know, but I think she might've been having a panic attack or something."

Lindsay got a short look at Ruby's appearance before getting into the passenger seat.

"She looks familiar."

Michael scoffed and glanced at her as he turned the key, "You don't say."

"I mean like, really familiar. I know she's like a cosplayer but she must be a pretty damn good one if she could pull off Ruby's look."

Michael clicked his tongue before saying, "Do you know if Ruby from the show has any medical issues?"

Lindsay blinked, "You don't really think that-"

"Don't judge me. Just answer the question."

She sighed, "As much as I want to prove you wrong… I don't know what Monty had in plan. If he'd just told us before-"

"Alright, alright. I don't need this right now." Michael waved it away, "Just forget it."

"But it's implied that she's been having nightmares about her mother. I'm pretty sure that after a decade, those dreams would cause panic attacks."

"Well… I guess we could sleep on it. We don't actually know if this is the actual Ruby Rose from the show. I mean, that's just insane!"

"Yeah but what if she's not really Ruby? What if she's just an insane cosplayer, so bent on getting her character right that they practically live their lives as that character?"

Michael gave Lindsay a weird look.

"I read the news," she states, as if that explained it.

"Dammit, dammit all. What if we just kidnapped a kid?"

"Michael, I think you're overthinking this. Right now, let's just get home and deal with this later."

He sighs, "Alright, but if she wakes up, we're asking her where the hell she lives and who she is."

"Deal."


	3. The Meeting

**A/N Happy Wednesday! (or Tuesday)**

 **Welcome to another chapter of Glitch Between Worlds!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or Rooster Teeth.**

 **Sorry it's not as long :P But hopefully you enjoy it.**

 **EDIT: 2/23/16**

* * *

 _Red eyes, dark red. Staring, always staring. No aura, soulless creatures._

 _The eyes stared into her soul, the darkness reaching into her own soul. She gasped._

 _The blood was pouring out of her, spilling onto the concrete floor and painting the ground red._

Lights shone through her eyelids brightly, forcing her into awareness. The murmur of voices were gradually getting louder.

"Look, bottom line is that we don't know who the hell she is."

"She just had a panic attack! We should get her to the hospital for crying out loud!"

Ruby began to pick out two voices, one feminine and the other the same voice of the man who'd taken her in.

"She seems okay for now at least."

"Still, it's kinda unnerving. What if she has another one?"

"We'll worry about that later. Right now, we should focus on getting her home."

Ruby closed off the voices in her head, only wanting to sleep for the moment. She was so, so tired.

The heaviness of her eyelids were relieved as she begged for sleep to come. Her whole body ached with weariness.

 _"Close your eyes now time for dreams,_

 _Death is never what it seems."_

"Hey, wake up."

The voice had pounded loudly in her eardrums. Ruby let out a soft groan. The solitude she yearned for was snatched out of her reach. A hand grasped her shoulder tightly, shaking her out of her small moment of peace.

Ruby's eyes opened involuntarily, revealing silver eyes that glimmered in the lamplight. The hands helped her up into a sitting position on the couch she was laying on.

"Where am I?" Ruby asked, her voice no more than a whisper. She cleared her throat, wincing slightly at the dryness of it.

Michael was the one who helped her up. He was sitting beside the child, a comforting hand rested on her shoulder.

Footsteps were heard as a young woman approached the two, holding a glass of water, "Here, take this."

Ruby held the cool drink in her palms, slightly relieving the aching that resonated from her sore joints. She looked from the glass to the young couple, almost waiting for permission to drink.

The woman laughed, a clear crisp sound that sounded strangely familiar. It was unsettling, the fact that both persons sounded like someone she knew.

"Drink up," the woman said. It was almost painfully obvious how forced the sentence was. Both of them seemed to have a cheerful look painted over a worried and anxious one.

Ruby eagerly gulped down the refreshing drink. She could almost feel the water flowing through her bloodstream, invigorating her sore muscles.

"Thank you," Ruby replied, remembering her manners as she wiped her mouth.

"That's alright, honey," the woman said, retrieving the glass from the mysterious girl and escaping to the kitchen.

Michael frowned at the woman's retreating form. How was he supposed to explain all of this to Ruby?

Ruby seemed unsettled too as her eyes scanned the living room. A simple white coat of paint and relatively normal furniture, apart from the flat screen TV that took up a single wall. The couch was comfy and light resonated from the lamp in the corner. An open window let in a cool night breeze.

"I like your posters," Ruby said absentmindedly.

Michael's brain immediately went into turmoil.

"Oh," he mumbled.

Internally however…

 _"Ohshitohshitohshitohshit!"_ Michael screamed inside.

The walls of Michael and Lindsay's house were chock full of posters. Achievement Hunter, Red vs Blue, Rooster Teeth. Basically everything that Rooster Teeth made. Including RWBY.

"Yeah, um, about that…" Michael began, scratching his head awkwardly.

"Yeah, that poster looks pretty cool. What was it? Red vs Blue?"

Michael repeated Ruby's statement multiple times in his head before it actually stuck with him.

"Th-the what?"

"Yeah, that one there."

Michael followed Ruby's line of sight until he saw the poster depicting Kimball, from the show Red vs Blue, posing heroically on the land of Chorus.

"Oh," he said, mentally face palming. Lindsay had taken down the RWBY posters and replaced them with Red vs Blue one's to celebrate Season 13. The RWBY posters were now rolled up in their bedroom, safe from the eyes of Ruby.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked, tilting her head curiously. "You look kinda freaked out."

 _"Well it's not every day a fictional character pops up in your life."_ Michael thought grimly.

The 27 year old opened his mouth to reply when his wife came to the rescue.

"We did see you collapse in the middle of nowhere," Lindsay walked back to the group.

Ruby hung her head and smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, sorry about that. I must've scared you guys huh? Thanks for letting me in here."

"Not a problem," Lindsay said, sitting on the other side of the Remnan. "My name's Lindsay by the way."

Ruby nodded. "Right, Michael and Lindsay," she repeated, nodding a few times before cracking out another smile.

"Thanks again for the water but… I should really get going."

Michael and Lindsay shared a look. Lindsay's eyes flickered from Michael to Ruby, giving Michael the silent message to talk to her. Michael scowled at his wife.

"Before you go, we want to ask you some questions," Michael began unsteadily, earning a roll of the eyes from Lindsay.

"Oh no, it's okay. I'm not injured or anything, just a few sore muscles," Ruby said, standing up and looking down at the couple.

Michael shook his head, "No, no, it's not about that," he asserted, standing up and placing his hands on the young teen's shoulders. "We just want to know where you come from."

Ruby blinked. "Oh," she said forlornly. "It's about that Earth thing right?"

Lindsay gave Michael a glare before taking his place, pushing him back with one swipe of the hand.

"It might, but we just want to know who you are. That way, we can get you home safely," she said soothingly.

Ruby gave a short laugh before striking a pose, "My name's Ruby and I'm a huntress! I help people in need."

Then she flashed another sheepish smile before continuing, "Well-"

"Huntress-in-training, I suppose," both girls said simultaneously.

Lindsay, who realized her mistake immediately, stepped back and let Michael forward, the latter flashing her an arrogant smirk.

"What she meant was..." Michael said confidently, "What exactly do you remember before passing out?"

Ruby, still confused at the event that just transpired, spoke without thinking, "The battle."

"What battle?" Michael pressed.

"Well, I and my team were on a mission to Mountain Glen when the White Fang let out Grimm that attacked Vale!" Ruby said a little too quickly.

"We were fighting off the Grimm when a massive Ursa came out of nowhere! I got bull rushed by it and then I woke up here!"

Michael and Lindsay shared another look to Ruby's confusion. "You look really healthy for a person that just got wrecked by a Grimm."

"Yeah, well. Right now, I'm kinda worried for my teammates. They might need my help."

"The problem is, your teammates might not exist," Michael grumbled, crossing his arms.

Lindsay's eyes widened as she spun to shoot another glare at her husband, "Michael!"

"What?" he said, spreading his arms wide in a shrug, "She's going to find out anyway."

"Whoa, whoa, what do you mean?" Ruby asked, confusion flooding her brain even more.

"Look kid," Michael growled in frustration. "You have one last chance until I call the fucking cops."

"You're scaring her, Michael!" Lindsay protested.

"I've had enough of this bullshit. Fictional characters don't just come into existence. She's obviously lying!"

"No! I'm not lying!" Ruby shouted, backing away slowly in fright.

"Oh yeah?" Michael yelled. "Prove it."

Ruby blinked, frozen in the spot. Her brain denied all possibility that her friends might not exist. Comprehension was away from her reach.

Then and idea formed. A ridiculous, illogical idea but her muddled brain seemed to make sense of it.

"I'll find them," she said simply, and leapt out the window.

"Oh fuck!" Lindsay screamed as she tried to stop the red blur from escaping. Unfortunately, with the help of Ruby's semblance, Lindsay was unsuccessful in catching her.

"Dammit Michael!" She shouted before grabbing her coat and rushing out the door.

Michael, who stood dumbfounded at the display of semblance, broke through his moment of confusion. He followed his wife to the front door.

"What are you doing?" he yelled, watching Lindsay get into the car.

"We're going to get her back, dumbass!" Lindsay shouted at her husband. "Get in!"

The beanie wearing man complied with her orders and got into the car. Lindsay drove the car back with a little bit more force than usual.

"What in hell were you thinking?!" Lindsay snarled, pressing her foot firmly on the pedal.

Michael grappled for the seatbelt to restrain himself from launching out the wind shield. "I don't know?!" he said, feeling rather foolish.

"Dude, you just made a 15 year old girl leap out the damn window!" Lindsay yelled as she broke the speed limit around the corner.

"Fictional characters aren't supposed to be real!" Michael protested, holding onto the chair for dear life.

"So?" Lindsay said aggressively. "A normal person wouldn't jump out a window for no reason, even if they're not supposed to be real or not."

Lindsay took her eyes off the road to shoot a glare at her husband, "What matters is that she needs help. Not if she's real or not."

Michael tried to make sense of what Lindsay said in the midst of car horns blaring. "Dammit, I'm such a dumbass," he berated himself.

"I can't disagree with you there," Lindsay said, relieving the tension in the foot pedal. The car slowed to a more reasonable speed, matching the pace of the other cars in the vicinity.

A sigh was let out as she shook her head, "But I guess you're my dumbass."

"AAAAAAA! AAAAAAA! AAAAAAA! AAAAAAA!"

Gavin jolted up, banging both of his knobbly knees into the glove compartment.

"Argh! You bloody-" he yelled, rubbing his sore knees.

"Jesus Gavin, you need to change your damn ringtone," Meg sighed, trying to block out the annoying and loud ringtone to focus on the road in front of them.

Gavin took a peek at the person's name before groaning painfully, "Damn, hangovers and Ricky Gervali do not mix."

"You don't say," Meg mumbled dryly, "My ears are bleeding."

Gavin fumbled for his phone, trying to shut off the ear piercing sound.

"Hello? Gavin, you there?"

The Brit put the phone up next to his slightly red ears, "Yeah, Micco?"

"Michael," the voice corrected, "Don't call me Micco."

Gavin flashed a grin that Michael couldn't see, "Alright… Micco."

"Oh for fu- You know what? I don't even care anymore."

"What's up?"

Michael sighed, the voice sounding robotic over the speakers, "Look, I need your help. This might seem a bit weird but hear me out."

Gavin rolled his eyes, "Dude, we play video games for a living. I think we're the definition of weird."

"Okay, okay. So, uh, how the fuck to I explain this?"

"Just start from the beginning?" Lindsay's voice said, sounding slightly faraway. Michael must be the one holding the phone.

"Okay, alright. We were driving home when we saw this girl-"

"Was she hot?" Gavin immediately asked, gaining a raise of the eyebrow from his girlfriend in the seat beside him.

"Probably shouldn't be saying that when I'm driving the car, Gavin."

Gavin chuckled at his girlfriend's remark.

"Dude, she's fucking 15."

Gavin almost choked on his spit. Meg laughed at his expense.

"Okay?"

"Yeah, so long story short, she ran away and we're trying to find her. And we need your help," Michael added.

"Did you try to lure her into your rape dungeon?" Meg quipped, causing Gavin to actually start choking.

"C'mon guys be serious. We're not sure if she's alright in the head," Lindsay said, trying to keep the situation under control.

"So you're trying to say that you let loose a 15 year old psychopath into the neighborhood?"

Gavin could sense Michael's fuming from the phone, "Alright dude don't lose your head. What did this mysterious girl look like?"

"Well, uh, she wore a red cape."

"Uh-huh."

"She had black and red-ish hair."

"Yeah?"

"And she had a combat skirt!"

"Right…"

Gavin locked eyes with Meg, a hint of a smile on his lips. Meg rolled her eyes, "Our friends are weird."

Gavin smiled at that and turned his focus back to the conversation, "This is obviously a joke man."

"Joke? You think this is a joke?"

"Dude, you pretty much just described Ruby Rose from RWBY. I'm not that stupid asshole."

"Wha-?" Michael spluttered, his face turning red as Lindsay face palmed beside him.

"Look dude, if you're going to make a joke, don't call me while I have a bloody hangover. Hangovers suck ass dude."

"I'll see you tom-"

"SHIT!"

Meg slammed her foot on the brake as a girl in red ran across the front of the car. Gavin banged his head in the glove compartment, stunning him for a few moments.

One fleeting second and Gavin and the girl caught each other's eyes. Silver, and sparkling with unshed tears.

"Holy fuck."

* * *

 **Guest Reviews**

 **Since I can't reply to any guest reviews, I'll just put them here.**

 _Guest(chapter 1)_

Thank you so much :P I'm glad you enjoyed it

 _Guest(chapter 2)_

Thanks for reading. I'll try to keep up with the schedule :P


	4. Cold

**A/N Soo uhh...**

 **1 day late! Dangit!**

 **But it's pretty hard to write when you have a throat that feels like it's been ripped out and a clogged up nose. Being sick is like a writer's worst nightmare. Either that or writer's block.**

 **I'll try to get the next one longer and up on time.**

 **I love you guys! It's been a joy to read all your positive reviews and I feel so sad that I didn't really produce a chapter that I'm happy with.**

 **But nonetheless, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! You guys are awesome!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY**

 **EDIT:2/23/16**

* * *

The screech of tires brought Ruby out of the whirlwind of thoughts in her brain. The sudden brightness of the head lights caused Ruby to stumble, the edge of the car just clipping her hip. The impact sent her sprawling on the sidewalk.

Ruby clutched at her hip, adding it to her long list of injuries. After feeling it around a bit, she knew it wasn't broken, but the painful throbbing brought tears to her eyes.

Gritting her teeth through the pain, she tried to channel her aura to the affected area, but her aura had already taken a beating that day.

She glanced up, finding two strangers inside the car, staring at her with widened eyes. A few choice words were spoken from the duo, causing Ruby to cringe slightly.

Ruby tried to move her leg, the pain making it obviously adamant that she wasn't going to stand up any time soon.

The two strangers, one a woman and the other a man with an inhumanly large nose, began to talk amongst themselves, glancing back at her in hurried movements. Eventually the man stepped out of the car, approaching Ruby slowly.

"Hey, uh, you okay?" he said, kneeling down beside her. The man seemed cautious, as if he was hesitant to even touch her.

"It's not broken. It just hurts, a lot." Ruby added.

The blonde man nodded, eyeing her carefully, "Alright, uh, my name's Gavin."

"Ruby," Ruby said, reaching out to shake his hand. Gavin paused, eyes flickering from to girl to her hand.

"Nice to meet you?" Gavin accepted to handshake, the sentence coming out as a question rather than a statement.

"Sorry about that," she giggled embarrassingly, "I should've seen your car coming."

"Yeah well," Gavin shrugged, his actions seeming less tensed than before, "We all make mistakes."

"Actually," Ruby blurted out without thinking, "I was wondering where I was."

Gavin shifted uncomfortably, "Oh really?"

"Yeah, I can't say I know what part of Vale this is."

Gavin stayed silent after she'd spoken. Ruby tilted her head, trying to pick out emotions from Gavin's blank face.

"Would you have happened to have met two people before us?" Gavin asked, taking her hand suddenly.

Ruby blinked at the contact but looked up at Gavin, "Yeah, a guy named Michael and a woman named Lindsay."

Gavin let out a breath, "I know those people."

"You do? But they were telling me that…" Ruby trailed off.

"They told you what?" Gavin said quietly, giving the girl a small squeeze.

"Th-that I wasn't real…" she whispered, shaking her head furiously to flick off any tears that built up in her eyes.

Gavin gave her hand another quick squeeze before glancing back to the car where Meg sat, watching the exchange. He nodded at her then returned his focus to Ruby.

"What do you remember before coming here?"

"My team and I were on a mission when I blacked out. I don't know where I am, or where they are," Ruby explained between hiccups. "I'm sorry to have caused you guys all this. I mean, look at me. I'm supposed to be the leader of my team and I'm just bawling like a baby," she rambled, tears now dripping onto the sidewalk.

Another hand found its place on Ruby's shoulder. She looked up to find a woman beside her.

"My name's Meg," she said, rubbing her shoulder gently.

Ruby hung her head, feeling childish, "I-I…"

Meg snaked her arm around Ruby's shoulders, the other hand held a scroll-like device which was handed to Gavin.

Gavin gave a nod, patting Ruby on the head before retreating a few meters back. Before he disappeared behind the trees, he put the device up to his ear.

"Your hands are really cold you know." Meg said, diverting Ruby from the phone call Gavin was about to make.

"Sorry, it's really cold." Ruby mumbled quietly.

"It is about 10 o'clock in the night too," Meg voiced. Ruby finally raised her head to look up at the woman.

"Was it true? Am I not real?" Ruby said in a small voice.

Meg smiled sadly at the 15 year old, "Of course you're real. I'm just not sure about you being in Remnant anymore."

"Michael said something about a place called Earth. Is that where I am?" Ruby asked, putting the dots together.

Meg paused, deliberating her answer carefully, "Yes."

Ruby's face fell.

"But we're going to try our best to get you back to Remnant."

Ruby cracked a small smile at that but then her expression changed, "How do you know about Remnant?"

Meg blinked, blanking out for a moment, "Isn't that where you come from?"

"Yeah but, I've never mentioned Remnant to anyone here."

"Oh," Meg replied simply, the comforting grip on her shoulder now tensed.

"Well, that's another thing that you should know, Ruby."

"I never told you my name either! What's going on?" Ruby exclaimed, almost jolting out of Meg's clutches. Meg kept a firm hold on her, preventing her from standing.

"Your hip needs help. Stay still," Meg protested against Ruby's actions.

"No! Who are you?"

"Hey! Ruby calm down!" Gavin squawked, helping Meg pin her down on the ground.

"We'll explain later. I know this is hard for you but just calm down!" Meg shouted.

Ruby frightened flailing deteriorated, wide silver eyes staring wildly at the two.

"Gavin! Hey Gavin! You there?"

Michael's robotic voice came from the scroll-like device in Gavin's free hand. It was smaller than a normal scroll and didn't seem to expand into a flat holographic screen yet it seemed to work similar to Beacon's scrolls.

"Yeah, I'm here." Gavin said, proving Ruby's suspicions. So it was a communication device.

"Look Michael, you need to get over here right now." Gavin said seriously, "Ruby's here and she needs to talk to you guys somewhere that isn't on the side of the road."

"Where are you guys?" Michael questioned, a faint car engine running in the background. "Wait a minute. I think I found you guys."

Two white headlights appeared in the distance. Gavin raised his arm to signal that it was them. Michael poked his head out the window as the car drew closer, coming to a stop beside the trio.

"Ruby!" Lindsay exclaimed as she jumped out of the car, leaving the engine running in her wake.

"Lindsay!" Ruby squeaked.

Gavin and Meg let her go, helping her sit up. Lindsay kneeled down, concern obvious in her eyes.

"Oh my god, what happened?" Lindsay said frantically, searching Ruby for injuries. Ruby hid her face, embarrassed as Lindsay began fussing over her.

"She's okay, don't fuss over her Lindsay," Meg said, rubbing the child's back soothingly.

The pain in her hip reduced to a dull throb that only pulsed if she jolted it. As Lindsay began asking her for any pain she could feel, Ruby cracked a small smile. The action had reminded her of a mother that coddled her child.

If she had a mother.

"Hey, uh…"

Michael appeared next to Gavin, scratching his head awkwardly, "I suppose I have to apologize."

Ruby blinked, "What?"

"I'm sorry kid, for screaming at you like that. I should've known that you were an…actual human being and…" he trailed off. Michael took a deep breath, then slipped off his beanie, handing the small clothing to Lindsay.

Lindsay covered Ruby's freezing hands in the warmth of the beanie. Ruby smiled contently at the warmth that began to seep through her fingers, "Thank you."

"There's no need. It's repayment for being a dick to you," Michael shrugged, glancing off into the distance to avoid Ruby's gaze.

A short silence followed until Gavin broke it, "Should we get home?"

Meg nodded, then took a look at Ruby, "You going to be okay?"

Ruby paused, looking from Meg to Lindsay and Michael.

"Yeah," she answered.

"I'll be just fine."

* * *

 **Guest Reviews**

 **Guest-** _Thanks for your review! Hopefully you still enjoyed this one._


	5. Productivity

**A/N Chapter 4! Woo!**

 **Now here's a chapter I'm happy with!**

 **Read and Review! Love you guys!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY**

 **EDIT:2/23/16**

* * *

Michael swore he pinched himself at least a hundred times. The car ride was a silent and awkward trip until Lindsay and Ruby began talking. Ruby would occasionally point out something she hadn't seen before on Remnant and Lindsay would try to answer. Michael tried a few times to get into the conversation but ended up ending it instead, then it would be picked up again by Ruby or Lindsay.

It was like the Achievement Hunter office all over again, except he was one of the B-team, the people who would often get flamed on by the viewers, although a massive majority of fans supported the group.

It was hard to believe that the actual Ruby Rose was in the backseat, literally in the flesh. I mean, she's a computer program! A piece of animated code and polygons!

Instead of brooding silently in the driver's seat, Michael tried to focus on the road to stop his mind from wondering.

He didn't know much about animation, or computers for that matter. Ryan was the PC guy before he joined the main group. Normally when his computer would go broken, he'd instantly call Ryan and he'll be there.

This time, there was no Ryan. Hell, if Ryan knew how to incarnate an animated model to life, he'll be seriously impressed.

"I think that guy's a dick," Michael remarked at the driver in the black car beside them. The guy wore sunglasses in the middle of the night, all the while holding a bottle of beer in one hand.

Silence. Again. There he goes again, stopping conversations since the dawn of time.

"What's a Starbucks?" Ruby asks, bringing another subject into focus.

"It's like a restaurant. They serve coffee and stuff for money." Lindsay replied.

"Oh! Like that one called Stardust in Remnant?"

Lindsay laughs, "Oh god, did they actually put that into the world as well?"

"Who? Oh anyway, the people in Stardust serve the best coffee in the world!"

Michael chuckled along, shaking his head at the ridiculousness of the concept.

The car ride was filled with more comparisons between Earth and Remnant, some hilariously absurd, others more fuel for thought. They arrived at the house, Michael pointing out the skid marks that Lindsay had created during all the chaos.

"Oh gosh, aren't you going to be fined for that?" Ruby said, peeking out the window to get a closer look at the imprint. Michael's Achievement Hunter beanie was snugged comfortably on her head.

Lindsay helped Ruby out of car. "I don't know. Probably."

Then she grinned, "But it was worth it."

Ruby giggled at that and bounced up to the door where Michael was fumbling with the lock. He opened the door, feeling the sudden rush of homeliness.

"Love is an open do~oor!" Lindsay sang, terribly out of key.

"Ow!" Ruby squealed giddily, pushing down Michael's beanie to cover her ears.

"Please stop," Michael grinned, pushing Lindsay through the door.

"Close the do~oor!" Ruby sang as she pushed the door closed, stopping any heat from escaping out into the frosty night.

The trio laughed as they trekked down the hallway to reach the living room.

"Heater on," Lindsay said, flicking the switch down, causing a dull whirr to fill in the silence.

"I'll make some coffee," she said, beginning her way to the kitchen.

"Whoa, whoa," Michael said, waving his hands in front of her. "Lindsay, it's like midnight already."

A short glance at the clock proved Michael's theory true, "Oh."

"Well, off to bed then."

Ruby looked up from her spot in front of the heater, "Where do I sleep?"

Lindsay and Michael shared a glance before Michael pointed to the hallway, "There's a spare bedroom on the right. Be warned, it's a bit cluttered."

"Okay, thanks," Ruby said, running down the hallway to find said room. The speed of her running almost blew Michael over.

"We'll get you some clothes later!" Michael called from his spot on the floor.

Ruby nodded, and before she could realize that she was already out of sight, she slammed her arm onto the door of the spare room. The door swung open.

Ruby walked in, taking in the sight. Boxes, half torn and battered, lay on the floor. The girl picked up a piece of unidentifiable plastic and threw it away, deeming it useless. Rummaging through the items she found broken pieces of plastic and rubbish.

Using her semblance, she picked up a box and place it outside her door, repeating the process until everything on the floor was inside the cardboard box. Finally, she could take in the new room without all the mess cluttering up her field of view.

It was a rather simple room, a single window and a plain beige paint color on the walls. A single bed with bland white sheets and drawers on either side. On the opposite wall of the bed was a built in wardrobe.

Ruby reached out a hand to open to doors when the wooden frame slid to the right, revealing spacious shelves and hangers. She slid the doors closed, looking around the room some more.

As the girl was studying her room, a wave of exhaustion came upon her. It was like the same feeling she'd experienced before, in the park.

"Ugh," she mumbled, putting her hands to her head. She closed her eyes, trying to block out the painful sensation in her head.

Ruby collapsed on the bed, curling up into a ball and pressing her knees to her eyes to keep any tears from leaking out.

She was so tired.

The headache passed, leaving her dazed lying on the bed. It was only then she realized how tired she was.

Aura is like a shield. Something that can protect a person's body. People that live without aura, or have complete exhausted their supply, need to live carefully. One wrong move and you're gone.

Fortunately, aura regains its power over time. But something was off with this world.

No aura. Ruby could feel the absence of aura around her. The absence was so deep and empty, she didn't know how she couldn't have realized it before.

It was… unsettling to say the least. Students were taught that aura was essential key in becoming hunters and huntresses. It was every single day that Ruby felt the aura coming from the teachers and students. Aura was practically inside the building. Even in your sleep, you can still feel the aura resonating from the stones.

Aura seemed to regenerate slowly in this world. Even as she was running, she noticed her slower pace and the lack of rose petals that she left behind her.

"Ruby?"

Lindsay walked through the door, holding a bunch of clothes bundled in her arms. She was looking curiously at a few rose petals scattered around the floor.

"I have some clothes for- Are you okay?!"

Ruby nodded, "Just tired."

Lindsay looked skeptical but didn't say anything further.

"The bathroom is just outside your door," she said, putting down a red plain T-shirt and hoodie along with some pants.

"Thanks," Ruby replied, cringing at the look Lindsay gave her. She hated lying, especially to someone was eternally grateful to.

Lindsay left as Ruby began her way to the bathroom with her new clothes. The red and black outfit she wore was now tattered and dirty. She examined her cape, running her fingers through the holes in the fabric.

Stripping down her clothing, she tossed her outfit in the laundry and folded up her cape. She slipped on the T-shirt and pants quickly. Carrying her hoodie in one arm, she turned the knob but paused at she spotted Michael's beanie on the floor.

Stepping quickly, she picked up the beanie, only now starting to recognize the logo on the front.

It was a green star with some sort of lever in the middle. She saw the logo multiple times on the posters that hung on the walls.

Shrugging dismissively, she walked back to the spare room to find the white bed sheets replaced by red ones. Lindsay was seen fixing her bed, patting it down to make sure it wasn't creased. She probably also cleaned up the rose petals she left on the floor.

Ruby smiled at the motherly action, "Thanks for the clothes."

"It's alright. It's not every day that we, uh, get a visitor here," Lindsay said, stammering in the middle of her sentence.

"With the exception of Gavin. Sometimes he hangs around." Michael said from behind her, "Anyways, we should get to bed. It's been a heck of a day."

"You don't say," Lindsay and Ruby said at the same time.

Ruby didn't notice the small falter at the end of Lindsay's voice.

"Goodnight," the married couple declared, already out of sight.

"Goodnight."

Ruby settled down on the new bed, placing her cape on the bedside table. She decided to put the hoodie on since it was a bit chilly.

It was different from the swinging motion on her usual bunk bed, but it was still comfortable nonetheless.

Sighing in content, Ruby quickly fell into a deep slumber.

Yang clutched her sister's hand tightly, almost crushing the poor girl's hand. The image of red pools of blood surrounding her sister's body wouldn't leave her mind.

"I'm sorry," she repeated for the thousandth time.

The dull faces of Weiss and Blake barely reacted to Yang's apology.

However one person did.

"Why?" Doctor Oobleck asked for the thousandth time, not expecting an answer.

"Because I promised."

Yang turned her head to look in Oobleck's direction, not really meeting his eyes, "Because I promised that I would be there for her."

She looked down, not finding a single speck on the white hospital floor, "I'll be there for her. I'll be there to protect her."

" _I **broke** that promise_ ," she spoke, voice cracking as tears began to form.

"I'm so sorry."

Dark, shadowy figures surrounded her.

The creatures of Grimm.

" _Ruby_!" Someone screeched.

The voice was distorted, as if someone had put a bunch of voices together and played it all over again.

Her name was being called. By whom, she didn't know.

First it was her father, calling her name as he fell into another drunken rage.

Then it was her mother, whispering her name soothingly and filling her head with lies.

And then it was Yang.

"I'm sorry," Yang sobbed ignoring the comforting figures around her.

 _"I'm so sorry!"_

"Ruby?"

Sunlight shone through her eyelids, forcing her into awareness. The morning light greeted her a bit too enthusiastically.

"Yeah?" Ruby croaked out, trying to blink away the dots caused by the sudden light.

"Time for breakfast," Michael called from the doorway. Ruby nodded, yawning cutely. Michael smiled at the adorable sight.

Ruby tilted her head at Michael's smile. Michael looked away, embarrassed.

"C'mon kid."

Ruby nodded, tossing off the bed sheets and sliding off the bed, laughing at Michael's exasperated face.

"Okay~" Ruby sang, bouncing towards the kitchen.

Michael shook his head, chuckling quietly to himself as he entered the kitchen behind Ruby.

Lindsay was preparing some eggs and toast at the benches. Ruby leapt up onto one of the chairs, "Whoa! Those look tasty!"

Michael took a peek at the food that Lindsay had generously prepared, "Mm, don't you want to just devour that with your mouth?"

Ruby laughed, shoving the toast into her mouth, "Yep!"

"Well then, you better freshen up because we're going somewhere today," Lindsay smiled, sitting down next to the fictional girl.

Ruby looked up at her, half the toast hanging of her mouth. "Where are we going?" she said through her food.

"We're going to where we work, the Rooster Teeth Offices."

Ruby grinned, "What kind of name is that?"

Michael shrugged, "You can ask the guys later. They're going to help you get back home."

"Really?"

Michael nodded, ruffling her hair to Ruby's distaste, "Yes. We'll explain how later but for now, just get ready to go."

"Alright!" Ruby squealed, bounding towards the bathroom.

"There's a spare towel in there. Oh, and fix up your hair," Michael called.

"That was your fault!" Ruby yelled back.

A door closing announced that Ruby was now out of hearing range. Michael looked at Lindsay with a grin.

"Well that was surprisingly easy."

Lindsay scoffed, putting the plates away, "Just wait and see when we tell her she's from a fictional show."

Michael began to help Lindsay put the dishes away, "It can't be that bad right? She already knows that she doesn't belong here."

"But finding out that a lot of people watch your every moment is kind of creepy."

Michael furrowed his eyebrows, "Yeah, I would flip the fuck out if I found that out."

Lindsay rolled her eyes, "Let's go. We have a lot of explaining to do."

It's only a few minutes to drive to Rooster Teeth Productions. Ruby peeks out the window to get a better glimpse of the massive warehouse.

"Wow! That's an office?"

Michael takes a look at what Ruby was gaping at, "Yeah, it used to be an old airport hangar."

"Stage 5," Ruby muttered, reading out the big red letters on the front.

"Yep, that's what they called it."

Michael begins to park the car in one of the many parking spaces outside of the hangar. The car screeches to a stop next to Geoff and Ryan's cars in the Achievement Hunter parking spaces. Ruby stared up at the building.

It was hard to believe that it was an office. It looked more like a warehouse than anything else.

"C'mon Ruby. I bet you want to go inside now," Lindsay said, holding out a hand to help Ruby out of the car.

Ruby smiles and takes it, looking up at the warehouse again in amazement, "I want to see what's inside!"

"Then let's go!" Lindsay shouted.

Ruby giggled. "Race you!" she squealed, gaining a lead in front of Lindsay.

"Cheater!" Lindsay cried playfully, running after the girl, leaving Michael in the dust.

Ruby didn't dare to use her semblance. If she had another one of those headaches then she would send the others into a panic. They'll send her to a hospital and she probably won't be able to have a chance to go back to Remnant.

Ruby stopped at the entrance of the building, Lindsay closely following and Michael walking casually.

"Hurry up!" Ruby yelled, waving her hand to signal to Michael.

Michael rolled his eyes, "You're high as fuck Rubes."

Ruby, now slightly more accustomed to his swearing, grinned at the comment, "Thanks."

"It wasn't a complement."

"You're not a complement," Ruby replied.

"You're face isn't a comp-"

"Michael!"

The trio turned, Ruby backing away at the authority in the voice. A man with tattoos all over his right arm was raising an eyebrow at the surprised child.

"Did you and Lindsay make a child already?"

Lindsay immediately blushed while Michael laughed, "Oh gods no."

"That would be painful as fuck."

"For you or for Michael?" Geoff chuckled. "I know I suffered when Griffin was having Millie."

"Why are we talking about this?" Ruby blurted.

Geoff's expression changed. "Well hello there little lady," he said, kneeling down to Ruby's height.

"Uh, hi?" Ruby squeaked, fumbling awkwardly with her hoodie.

"I have a little girl, younger than you, but you do sure act the same," Geoff smiles at the thought of Millie.

"Uh, that's cool? Maybe we can meet each other some time?"

Geoff nodded, "She'd like that. Millie likes meeting new people."

"Okayy!" Lindsay said abruptly, "You're being a little creepy, Geoff."

Geoff looked up, feigning hurt, "What?"

"You're talking to a 15 year old girl like she's 9," Michael said casually, glancing off into the distance smugly.

"I can fire you."

"Go ahead," Michael challenged.

"My name's Ruby," Ruby piped up, smiling kindly at the admittedly creepy man.

"That's cool. My name's Geoff, but I bet you already knew that. What are you doing here anyways?"

"I'm here with Michael and Lindsay," Ruby said cautiously, not wanting to give anything away.

"Well, Michael's got to get to work now," Geoff explained, shooting a glare at the smiling man.

"Actually, we need to talk to Shane about something. It's about the show," Michael chose his words carefully. He didn't want to give it away so quickly.

"Oh, uh, well that's okay then," Geoff mumbled uncomfortably, "I'll just go tell the others to hang on for a bit. Give them a bit of a break."

Michael gave the tattooed man a nod before leaving to the animation's department, hoping that they wouldn't bump into anyone on the way.

For once, it actually worked. The trio walked through an empty office area, avoiding the windows just in case. Everyone was either late or working.

Michael felt bad about interrupting the animation team but this was way more important. Shane had been working his ass off ever since, uh, that incident happened.

"Who's Shane?" Ruby asked, holding onto Lindsay's hand as she gazed in awe of the space.

"Shane is an animator that helped, uh, create you, I guess."

"Create me?"

Lindsay patted Ruby's head gently, "You do know that Remnant is in another world right?"

Ruby nodded.

"Well, they kinda created Remnant. They made you."

Ruby blinked.

"It's kinda hard to comprehend right? I mean, finding out that you're not in Remnant anymore and meeting your creators is pretty weird," Lindsay continued, hoping to avoid the awkwardness of the situation.

"How?"

"It's pretty hard to explain-" Lindsay was cut off by a barrage of questions.

"Who made me? How does that even work? Was everything in Remnant created by them?"

"Yes, everything in Remnant was put into your world because of them," Lindsay said, trying to keep up with the questions.

"Did you help? Did you help create me?"

Lindsay shuffled uncomfortably. Michael stopped his pace to watch the events unfold.

"Yes. I helped. That's why I know everything about you, Ruby. I know everything about you. Your likes and your fears altogether."

"How?" Ruby repeated, quieter this time.

Michael coughed, breaking the awkward silence that just occurred between the two.

"We're almost there, keep up," he said, taking Ruby's other hand.

"O-okay," Ruby mumbled quietly. Michael gave her hand a small squeeze before letting go and leading the way.

"Shane?" Lindsay called, trying to avoid Ruby's gaze.

"Yeah?" a voice shouted from one of the many desks in the office.

A man, presumably Shane, was sitting at one of the desks. Michael peered at his double screens, watching as Shane began to animate.

Shane had barely taken his eyes off the screen when Michael began speaking.

"Shane, uh, look we might have a problem."

Shane nodded absently, typing commands into the computers, "Uh huh,"

He turned his head to finally look at Michael, "Can you say that again? I was literally just thinking about something else."

Michael raised an eyebrow. "We have a problem," he repeated grabbing Ruby into his field of sight.

Shane blinked, eyes refocusing, "Whoa."

He then turned to Michael again, "We definitely have a problem."

"So?" Michael nagged, searching for answers.

"Dude, I absolutely have no idea how this happened. I don't know how to make an animated character into real life! I might've been working with Monty for the past 7 years but I'm not that much of a powerhouse!" Shane protested, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Wait, you know who I am?" Ruby asked timidly.

Shane's head immediately turned to Ruby, "I spend half the time looking at your character models. Of course I know who you are."

Ruby frowned at the choice of words. Lindsay coughed, trying to hide her laughter.

"Are you sure? Are you completely positive that this is the real Ruby Rose?"

Lindsay and Shane shot Michael a look. "Of course she is!" they say simultaneously, both for different reasons.

"Look Michael, I spend more time with animated characters then my wife. Seriously dude."

Ruby, once again, frowned at the choice of words.

"Shane, are you absolutely sure that you didn't incarnate a fictional character into life?"

"For crying out loud, of course!"

"What are we talking about?" Ruby asked, now completely lost.

Shane gave Michael a look that said 'are you bloody serious?'

"Look Rubes. I don't know why Michael hasn't told you yet but…"

"But what?" Ruby said, tilting her head.

Shane shivered at the familiar sight. Usually he'd be the one animating the adorable head tilting but seeing it in real life instead of in a computer sent shudders down his spine.

"There's a show about you. It's called RWBY, your team."

Ruby looked at him blankly.

"It's an animated web series about you, and your team, and basically everything in Remnant."

Ruby still showed no signs of comprehension.

Shane took a breath, deciding to continue, "And I help animate it. I helped making the show." He gestured to entire warehouse, "Basically everyone in this room has. So, uh, hopefully you can understand that."

Lindsay gave Ruby another head pat, "It's like a movie, except it's about you. You're the main character. You are the protagonist and…"

Lindsay bobbed her head, trying to search for the words to say, "I'm your actor? I guess?"

Ruby stared, mouthing the words "whaaat?" silently.

"You know how cartoons work? How people have voice actors to make them talk? Well, uh…" Lindsay trailed off, giving Ruby a hopeful grin.

"Oh," she said simply.

The sound of keys clicking began again, Shane returned to his work.

"Okay."

"We'll give you some time to think about it," Michael offered.

"No, no, I think I can handle it," Ruby smiled, desperately hoping that they didn't see through her lie.

Lindsay looked unsettled. Ruby bit her lip. It was impossible to lie to Lindsay.

She nodded anyways, deciding not to press it further.

"I'll go get the others. You go walk around with Ruby, introduce her to the rest of the guys."

Michael nodded, "Sounds like a plan. Let's do it."

Lindsay gave Ruby another rub on the back before backing away to find the others. Michael looked down worriedly at Ruby, the latter fidgeting uncomfortably. Her eyes had a faraway look in them, as if she was deep in thought.

He opened his mouth to speak up when someone interrupted him.

"Ruby!"

Meg ran out of nowhere to give Ruby a tight hug, which Ruby responded to after a surprised pause.

"Meg?" she said slowly, her eyes beginning to come back to reality.

"Heyo!" Gavin waved from a distance, coming over to stand next to Michael.

Ruby smiled, giving both a big hug. Michael frowned thoughtfully.

Her actions seemed forced, as if she'd plastered a fake smile over her entire face. In fact, the more Michael stared, the more forced it seemed.

Ruby caught Michael's stare, a hint of surprise appearing on her face for a millisecond. And then she returned to her happy-go-lucky attitude.

"So, uh, did they tell you everything?" Gavin began unsteadily.

Michael gave Gavin a glare before Ruby responded, "Yep! Well, not everything but I think I got the basics!"

Gavin looked pleased, "How'd you react to Lindsay then?"

"It was pretty weird, but she's gone to get some other people for me to meet."

"And Michael?" Gavin grinned. Ruby gave Gavin a confused look before glancing at Michael.

Gavin's grin faded as he realized he said something he wasn't supposed to. Michael was giving Gavin a cold look, before he realized Ruby was looking at him, "Well, uh…"

"Yeah? What do you want to tell me?"

"I-I," he took a deep breath before continuing.

"I'm Sun."

* * *

 _Yangfromyin_ \- **Well this is pretty self explanatory. The VA's are going to meet Ruby and probably freak out.**

 _Guest-_ **Hopefully this one is longer for you :P**


	6. An Awkward Beginning

**A/N Problems!**

 **Super sorry for not updating last week. Hopefully I'll get something out later this week, otherwise just remind me that I owe you guys a chapter.**

 **Enjoy this extremely late chapter, and hopefully the next will be quicker.**

 **EDIT:2/23/16**

* * *

 _"Happiness can exist only in acceptance." – George Orwell_

* * *

He messed up. Again.

Gavin mentally facepalmed himself multiple times as he watched Ruby's eyes boggle at the flustered voice actor.

Michael glanced at Gavin pleadingly. Gavin returned his glance with a helpless gesture. Michael groaned inwardly, as to not discourage Ruby.

"That's. So. COOL!"

Ruby tackled the voice actor with a hug, causing a bewildered Michael try not to stumble back into Shane's desk.

"Whoa, uh, yeah! So awesome right?" he grinned, looking even more confused as Ruby squealed.

"You sound exactly like him!"

Michael laughed, sounding forced as he turned to Gavin for support. Gavin and Meg smiled evilly, refusing to help him from the hyper teen.

The commotion caused Shane to stop working and watch the scene. Chuckling quietly he returned to his work, mentally remembering to tell this story a few nights from now at the bar.

Ruby literally leapt into his arms, inspecting his face carefully to pick out any resemblance from him to her friend.

"Oh gosh! This is really, really cool!"

"Yeah, totally, please get off me," he said uncomfortably.

Gavin was deciding whether or not to pull his phone out to record the scene, "Yeah, isn't that cool Ruby?"

"More than cool!"

Michael looked like he was literally about to go on his knees to beg Gavin and Meg to help him.

"Guys, please," he mouthed, smiling although his eyes were about to go full on begging.

"Okay, Rubes that's enough. I don't thi- Whoa! Okay definitely enough!" Gavin shouted, jumping in to stop the red clad girl from checking whether or not Michael had a tail.

Michael shifted uncomfortably, coughing into his hand to stop his face from reddening. Shane was struggling to cover up his laughter.

"Ruby!?"

The entire room was silent, Shane fell quiet. Gavin let the girl go, stepping back to Meg's side.

Ruby blinked.

Was that who she thought it was? No, it couldn't. It was impossible.

The blonde burst into the scene, Lindsay following close behind. Ruby stared. It was impossible that her sister was standing right in front of her.

"Yang?"

Barbara was having a rough day.

She hung up, placing the phone down on her desk. RTX was going to be pushed back.

For some points of view, it was a blessing. Namely the animation department. Red vs Blue was going to premiere soon, so they aren't going to have any problems there. RWBY however…

The show was going to be delayed. Badly. RTX was going to have to be pushed back to August or somewhere around there. The jury was still out on that. She still highly doubted that the 3rd Volume was going to debut on that day.

Hopefully they could work something out.

"Barbara, Barbara, Barbara!"

Barbara looked up, looking questioningly at the shouting woman outside her office.

"What?" she asked, a little more harshly than she intended. Thankfully, Lindsay was too preoccupied with whatever she was raving on about to catch her tone.

"You need to see this!" Lindsay bounced, her voice almost melding into Ruby's for a moment.

"What is going on?" Barbara asked the two woman behind her. Arryn rolled her eyes, "I dunno."

"Don't ask us," Kara agreed. Barbara sighed, standing up to join whatever Lindsay was gushing about.

"If it's about cats again, I'm going to leave," Barbara said, giving Lindsay a look.

"It's about Ruby!"

"The show RWBY or the character?" Kara asked, half-laughing.

"Ruby Rose! She's here!"

"Yeah, and Burnie's not an asshole," Barbara scoffed sarcastically. Lindsay broke character, glaring at the blonde.

"I'm serious, the actual Ruby Rose is here!"

The voice actors of team –WBY looked at their leader skeptically.

"I won't believe it until I see it," Kara asserted.

"Well c'mon!"

No, it wasn't.

How stupid of her to actually believe that her sister had come? To save her? To fulfil her promise?

She looked like Yang, sounded like Yang, but it wasn't Yang.

Ruby looked uncomfortable, shifting awkwardly as all eyes turned to her, "I'm sorry," Ruby blurted "You're not Yang."

Barbara nodded, looking relieved, "No. I'm not."

Everyone looked at each other, almost expecting for one of them to react.

"Well this is an awkward introduction."

"I'm Barbara. Yang's voice actor," Barbara smiled kindly, "Nice to meet you."

"Hey," Ruby said shyly, "I guess you already know who I am."

Barbara laughed, the familiar sound bringing slight pains to her heart.

Would she be able to hear that laugh from the real Yang again?

Barbara stopped laughing, then leaned in closer to Ruby.

"This is like, really awkward," she whispered.

Ruby could not agree more.

"Don't take all the spotlight," another woman that looked a lot like Blake rolled her eyes.

"Soz Arryn," Barbara grinned, letting the dark haired woman step in front of Ruby.

"Hi Arryn!" Ruby peered up at her, "Blake?"

Arryn looked surprised, then shook it off quickly, "Lucky guess."

"Not really. You kinda look like her." Ruby giggled sheepishly.

"Oh."

Barbara's eyes lit up, "That could be a cool game! Just put everyone in front of her and see if she could guess whose character they play!"

"That would be a bit overwhelming," the other girl pointed out.

Ruby shot out a finger, "Weiss!"

"Yes!" Barbara laughed, clapping her hands in the air.

'Weiss' glared at Barbara, the latter flashing an innocent smile, "I'm Kara."

"Nice to meet you."

The four woman, Lindsay, Kara, Arryn and Barbara, unconsciously fell into order of her team, RWBY. White was glaring at Blondie while Arryn tried to conceal her giggles.

"This is cool," Ruby said, repeating the statement for the thousandth time today.

"Right," Kara agreed dryly.

The group began to walk, minus Shane, chatting quietly amongst themselves, occasionally taking quick glances at Ruby. Ruby would catch some of their looks and smile, almost trying to remind them that she was right there.

Shane had opted to stay at his desk. Since the rest of the animation team had gone on break, the man wanted to get as much as he can done.

Ruby walked next to Michael, who had a hand on her shoulder as the group shouldered forwards. They were going to a guy named Matt Hullum.

He was going to help her apparently, although Ruby suspected that they were lying, more to themselves than her.

Lindsay walked with Meg, talking about something called Blackfish or something. Ruby didn't really understand much about what they were talking about.

Michael stopped suddenly, keeping Ruby from moving forwards with the group. The rest still walked, seemingly unaware that the duo had stopped.

Michael was looking at something, something sad. She could see it on his face, an expression of sorrow. Ruby followed his line of sight, bright colors caught her eye.

An office, with an entire wall of posters. They were similar to Michael and Lindsay's walls, except much more packed. Some of the paper were old and tearing at the edges, some overlapped others. The Red vs Blue show were prominently shown, and some drawings with unfamiliar names in the top right corners.

"Michael," Ruby's voice started shakily.

"Why am I on those posters?"

Michael took a while to actually react to her question. He saw what Ruby was pointing at.

"Oh."

Michael kneeled down, giving Ruby a supportive hug, "We created you, remember? I guess he was just so devoted to you guys he wanted you guys in his wall."

"Who?" Ruby asked, eyes not straying from her very own hopeful face.

"Monty. Monty Oum."

"He created you. He was the one who brought you to life."

"How?" Ruby asked, only now just paying attention her teammates behind her poster self, and her friends.

In fact, there were more than just one poster of them. RWBY and JNPR, standing heroically. Ren and Nora. Yang and Blake. Herself.

"He was the one made you."

Ruby's throat was dry. Was this the day? Would she be able to meet this person? The person she would call her creator?

"Can I meet him?"

Silence.

Michael let the silence flood them like a tidal wave. Ruby still looked.

Computers were still on, displaying countless programs and commands. Code and numbers she didn't understand were flashing dully on the screens.

Some of the screens were black, others still brightly shining, as if waiting for a person to grab ahold of the keys again.

It felt… empty. As if the entire office was waiting for a special someone to enter. Perhaps Ruby was too.

"Who is he?"

Her question was already answered.

In the middle of the office was a memorial. It was rather small, taking up less than a meter. Flowers and candles, which were burning out, were placed along the sides of the small box. A flower that Ruby saw most were her roses, scattered meticulously around the surface.

A photo of a man with black short hair and brown skin. A strange but familiar face. It felt as if she'd known him forever.

Ruby understood. She recognized the feeling.

The feeling of mourning.

"How?" Ruby asked, looking down at the floor.

Michael paused then began talking, "An allergic reaction. Nobody had expected that."

Matt was having a normal day.

His morning started off fine. He woke up, drove to work, sat down at his desk and stared at his computer for hours. Like usual.

Now he was on his break, sipping his coffee nonchalantly as he walked back to his office. The usual screaming from the Achievement Hunter offices were absent, but he paid no attention to it. In fact, the entire office was rather quiet.

Burnie was nowhere to be seen. He was probably somewhere, or some other. Matt didn't care. As long as he didn't bother him.

"Hey Matt, have you seen Burnie?"

Gus. Dammit. A disturbance in the force. He sighed and turned to Gus.

"I haven't seen him for a while," the fuzzy chinned Hispanic said.

"You saw him yesterday afternoon," Matt said dryly, dry enough to soak up the entire Pacific Ocean.

"Yeah but-"

Matt cut him off, shaking his head and looking out in the distance, "When you miss bae so much," he captioned.

"Matt, don't be a dick."

"I'm the CEO of this company Sorola, I can move your office to the attic."

"B-but," Gus stammered, shooting a glare at his boss then walking away, muttering something under his breath.

Matt chuckled, starting to return to his office.

He was just outside his door when his phone dinged. Matt took a glance at it, confirming that the cause of the ding was a notification from Twitter.

 **Gustavo Sorola _  
_** _MattHullum after seeing you today, I'm pretty sure that man periods are real._

Matt huffed under his breath, typing quickly as he began to tweet out his reply.

 **Matt Hullum _  
_** _Hey JoelHeyman, pack your shit out of the attic. You're switching with sorola._

Snickering evilly, he kicked his door open, plopping himself on his chair. Matt looked up, spotting a massive pile of paperwork he still had to do. Shrugging dismissively, he scrolled through twitter as if the pile never existed.

"Hey Matt?"

The door opened suddenly. Matt grabbed a pen, slid a piece of paperwork on his desk and put on his glasses, all of this done in the second Barbara opened the door.

"Yes?" Matt replied, quickly filling out the form in front of him to make it look like he was doing his work.

Barbara looked from him to his pile of paperwork, "I know you've been working a lot but we have a slight problem."

Matt almost burst out laughing right then, quietly slipping his phone in the pocket of his jacket, "What kind of problem?"

Barbara said nothing, pulling a 15 year old child in Matt's view, "A big problem."

Michael didn't say anything more. All he said was that nobody had expected it and nothing else. He told her that someone else will explain what exactly happened to Monty. He didn't feel like it was his right to say.

The duo returned to the group. They didn't notice their departure nor their arrival, too thoughtful to even see where they're going. Not that they needed to anyways, the office layout was already imprinted in their minds.

Ruby was thoughtful too. If Monty was dead, what was she? Surely they wouldn't stop creating her and her friends?

What was a creation without a creator?

Ruby shook her head. These two days have been tough on her. She would have to take things one by one. For now, she was going to have to push the aura problem and Monty to the back of her mind, and focus on meeting the people who helped bring her to life.

The Remnan girl, lost in her thoughts, was rudely shoved forwards by the woman she now saw as her sister's voice actor. Too busy shooting a confused look at Barbara, she didn't see the surprised man on the desk.

A pen dropped. Matt looked from Barbara to Ruby.

"Oh."

"Well that's a problem."

* * *

 _Guest_ \- Super sorry! Here it is anyways! :P

 _Yangfromyin -_ More Barbara action next chapter! ;P


	7. Breach?

**A/N Chapter 7! Thank you so much for all the support! Love you guys!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY**

 **EDIT: 2/23/16**

* * *

"Alright, I know you're wondering why I brought all of you guys together here." Matt rubbed his hands together, gazing at the room of employees.

Well, the ones that Michael could round up at least. A quarter of employees were working and half were still probably asleep. A few of them, crammed together in the tiny room that was Matt's office.

"Cut the cliché shit, Matt," Miles said, rolling his eyes.

"Unlike you, we have work to do," Kerry agreed.

Matt glared at the two writers, staring them down until they meekly nodded.

"Now, I have a surprise for you guys."

"That's what you said when you made us do all of your paperwork!" Burnie protested.

Matt stared at him. Barbara giggled.

"Someone here wants to meet you all. And she's very important so don't mess up."

Ruby tried to hide behind Michael, shying away from the prying eyes of the employees of Rooster Teeth.

"I'm not that important," she whispered to Michael's back. He chuckled.

"You're a main character of a show that's watched by millions. Of course you're not important," he said sarcastically.

Ruby pouted, elbowing him in the side, "Meanie."

"I'm not mean. I'm just brutally honest."

Just as he said that, Michael shoved the girl into full view of everyone. You could literally hear a pin drop.

"Miles, am I dreaming?" Kerry whispered, eyes wide with shock.

Miles punched him in the shoulder, "Nope."

"Oh shit."

Geoff laughed, "Hey kiddo!"

Ruby blinked at the tattooed man before giving him an uncertain wave, "Hi?"

Burnie looked from Ruby to Geoff, "You knew?"

Geoff hummed casually, "Knew what?"

"That Ruby Rose was in the building?"

"Wha~at? Nah Burns, there's no way that Ruby Rose is in the building."

There was an awkward silence before Geoff fully realized who Ruby was.

"Oh."

"Dumbass," Jack coughed.

"Shut the fuck up, Beardo. Don't judge me."

As the two argued, a brown man casually slid towards the girl. Grinning suggestively, he pulled a rose out of his pocket and tipped his non-existent hat.

"Welcome to Earth, Miss Rose."

Michael glared at him, "I already said that, Ray."

Ray looked at Michael as if he had just committed an unforgivable betrayal, "How dare you!?"

Ruby looked between the two, fidgeting with the rose, "Um, thanks?"

The brown man grinned, returning to his spot between Jack and Geoff.

"Wh-what?" Gus spluttered. "How did you get here?"

Ruby shrugged, "I don't know."

"When where you last on Remnant?" Kerry inquired.

"Um…" Ruby stammered, "Grimm!"

"Emerald Forest!?" Miles guessed.

"No!"

"Ooh, ooh, Forever Fall!" Kerry shouted, pointing at Ruby.

Ruby shook her head.

"The Breach! When the Grimm got into Vale!" Miles screamed.

Ruby nodded furiously.

"YES!" Miles shouted triumphantly, standing up and doing a little dance.

"How did you get here then?" Kerry asked, trying not to show his hate for Miles right now.

"A massive Ursa came at us and smashed into me!"

The two writers were silent, staring at her.

"Wait, what? I'm confused."

"Same."

The voice actors of team RWBY were also silent, watching and waiting for Ruby's answer.

"The Mega Ursa!"

Miles and Kerry glanced at each other, shaking each other's heads.

"What are you talking about? The Mega Ursa doesn't even exist in the final cut of this volume!"

"Volume?"

Michael broke in to stop any more confusion. He dragged Ruby away from the questioning stares from the two writers.

"What are they talking about? Volumes? Isn't that a math thing?" Ruby asked.

"Look," he began.

"No! I'm tired of you just avoiding the question. Just tell me, straight up." Ruby demanded.

"I-," Michael broke off, shaking his head, "I don't want to explain this. I promise you Ruby, someone else will step in."

"But-"

Michael wasn't looking at her anymore, "We need to find a way to get her back to Remnant, and fast."

Matt nodded, seemingly agreeing, "Tell everyone in the office to find something, at least something about this."

"We can't just tell anyone!" Burnie protested, "If this gets out to the public, people will treat her like she's an alien or some shit."

"But she is!" Gus exclaimed.

Everyone gave him a look that said, "Are you actually serious?"

"Not that she's an alien! I mean, it's not every day that a goddamn fictional character comes to life!"

Michael frowned at the familiar words.

Ryan, who had been quiet in the corner for some time, spoke up, "What if we just tell all the employees and beg them not to tell anyone."

"Like that's going to help. I ain't going down on my knees to beg," Geoff scoffed.

"What if it was your daughter?" Jack shot back.

Geoff stayed quiet. Jack grinned.

"We won't need to beg," Ryan corrected himself, "We'll make them beg."

"Ryan, your psychotic personality is coming out again," Ray drawled lazily.

"Seriously guys, we can't let this get out to the public," Gavin said in the most British way possible.

"Says you," Meg nudged him in the side.

"Alright, alright!" Matt said, raising his hands up in the air.

"The plan is that we tell everyone in the office and tell the others later on. We'll hold another meeting to make sure nobody, and I mean NOBODY, speaks about this outside of work. We clear?"

"What about JJ? He's a part of the RWBY cast but he doesn't work here anymore."

"We'll tell him too, but he needs to promise to keep this under wraps or else all hell is going to break loose."

"The last thing we need are fucking scientists coming through our front door and whooping our asses," Michael spoke up.

"Now get back to work."

"Shane!"

Shane turned away from his computer, catching sight of an unusually out of breath Burnie running towards him.

"Did you hear? Ruby Rose is in our office!"

Shane nodded and turned back to his screen, "I know."

"How? Why does everyone know except for me?"

"Because your breath really smells so stop breathing down my neck."

Burnie pulled away, "Sorry."

"But I still don't understand how this happened. Ruby said something about a Mega Ursa or something. That doesn't line up with the show!"

Shane froze, his fingers lingering on the top of the keys.

"What?"

Burnie looked at him with furrowed eyebrows, "A Mega Ursa. In the Breach."

Shane didn't move. Burnie was starting to get worried.

"Dude, you okay?"

"What else did she say?" Shane demanded suddenly.

"I-I don't know! Something about it smashing into her and waking up here?"

Shane broke into action, fingers flying across the keyboard in quick succession.

"Whoa, whoa dude. What are you doing?"

Shane pummeled his pointer finger into the enter key. The screen lit up with a new window, showing one of the new Grimm models.

"That is the Mega Ursa."

The Grimm was monstrous, thick white spiked plates poking out on its shoulders and torso. It looked like something from Jurassic Park, except more Grimm-like.

Burnie looked at the screen then back at Shane, still confused as to what he was supposed to be seeing.

Another window popped up of the animated Breach, team RWBY posing in the middle of the square with Grimm surrounding them.

"This is was the older version of Breach," Shane explained, moving his mouse to give Burnie a wider view of everything.

Shane looked up at Burnie, the latter still rather confused. He began to play the animation.

Team RWBY were fighting off Grimm just like in the show, but something came up.

"We were originally supposed to have a longer fight to build up the suspense but due to time constraints, we could finish it in time.

The model, same as the one Burnie had seen before, came crashing through the square. The model of Yang dodged the attack but the model of Ruby stayed stationary. The video ended and looped again as soon as the Grimm clipped through Ruby.

"We cut this part off and left a smaller portion of Breach. This wasn't supposed to happen, unless something crazy did, like alternate universes or something."

"But this makes no sense. How could something like this happen?"

Shane looked thoughtful, watching the Mega Ursa charge through the screen repeatedly, "I have a theory. A shit theory but maybe it's true."

"What then?"

Shane shook his head, "Dude, it's too insane to explain now. I gotta think about this."

Burnie grumbled in frustration, "God, this is so annoying. Why do things have to be so difficult?"

Shane gave him a weary smile, "Because we're Rooster Teeth, that's why."

The Achievement Hunters had gone back to the Achievement Hunter office to finally start recording and editing videos. Everyone had tried their best to get back to their business, but having a person as important as Ruby Rose in their office, it was hard not to blab.

The entirety of Earth's team RWBY were silent in the conversation that took place in Matt's office, opting to stay quiet and let the big men sort it all out.

Barbara had to bite her lip to stop from laughing from time to time.

Unfortunately, with Kara and Arryn mysteriously disappearing after the small meeting, the Earth counterpart of Yang was forced to offer Ruby a place to stay while Michael and Lindsay were working.

To be fair, Barbara would've done the same thing.

Since Michael avoided Ruby's questions, it was a no brainer to think that the person that stayed with Ruby had to explain that she was a fictional character from a fictional show, in turn making the girl not a real person and basically an alien from outer space.

Yeah, confusing.

Mentally berating Kara and Arryn for leaving her with the Remnan girl, Barbara led Ruby to her office she shared with Gus. Thankfully the Hispanic man disappeared, probably to jack off Burnie or something.

"Here we are!" Barbara announced, plopping down on her chair. Ruby entered the office cautiously, setting herself down on a spare chair.

"Soooo," Barbara started awkwardly, flipping on her computer, "What do you know about Earth?"

Ruby's eyes lit up, a familiar smile spreading across her face, "I saw a Starbucks!"

"Oh!" Barbara exclaimed, "They are life. We need to get you some ASAP!"

"I never had any before," Ruby said shyly, "Not even the StarDust ones in Remnant."

Barbara almost choked, "StarDust? My god, Miles and Kerry are geniuses!"

"What?" Ruby said, almost laughing at her reaction.

"Miles and Kerry are the ones that write the show. You know, the ones screaming about the Breach?"

Ruby nodded, giggling at the memory.

"Oh, and Miles also voices Jaune! And Kerry is Neptune!"

Ruby grinned, "I thought they sounded familiar."

"Good luck. Everyone in this damn office sounds familiar."

Ruby nodded again. It was hard to believe that the man she'd just met a few minutes ago was one of her closest friends. She and Jaune had developed a close friendship, almost to the point where other students would mistake the pair to be dating. Ruby almost shuddered at the prospect of dating the blonde boy. It would be like dating her own brother.

It hurt to think she might not see him ever again.

"You haven't met everyone yet! You met team RWBY and Sun. Junior, Port… Does Matt voice anyone?" Barbara asked herself thoughtfully.

Ruby shrugged, "How am I supposed to know?"

"Oh wait, nope. Matt only voice Sarge and a million other people," Barbara was talking to herself by this point.

"I have no clue what you're talking about," Ruby admitted quietly.

Barbara laughed, "Sorry, you'll meet everyone later on. Someday, we'll get the gang together and we can hang out!"

Suddenly her expression changed, "Well, except for Ren of course…" she whispered quietly, almost too quiet for Ruby to hear.

"Ren? What about Ren?"

Barbara looked up in a look of shock, "Uh, well…"

"Is it about Monty?" Ruby blurted.

Barbara shifted uncomfortably, "Well… Yes."

"Did Monty voice Ren?" Ruby asked, connecting the dots.

Barbara nodded silently, "He called dibs on Qrow as well."

Ruby ignored Barbara's comment, "What happened to him? Michael said something about an allergic reaction-"

Ruby broke off as she saw the look on Barbara's face. It was exactly the same expression as Michael's.

"If you don't want to talk about it-" Ruby began.

"No. You deserve to know," Barbara sighed seriously.

Instead of continuing, she took out a device similar to what Gavin had the night before. After silently swiping on her screen, Barbara slid the phone over to Ruby.

Catching it unsteadily, Ruby held the device in her hands. She silently read the screen carefully.

"Didn't his aura protect him?" Ruby asked quietly, already knowing the answer.

Barbara shook her head, "There's no aura in this world." She turned to Ruby, "Except for you."

Ruby shook her head slowly, "It's complicated."

"Wouldn't it also transfer over to here as well?"

"Yeah but there's something stopping it. Like it's using its power somewhere else."

"Maybe on Remnant?"

Ruby looked up at Barbara, an expression of surprise and shock on her face, "What?"

"I don't know," she said, sighing desperately.

She didn't seem to want to say anything after that.

The red and yellow duo sat silently.

"Go ahead and play some games on there," Barbara said, gesturing to the phone before returning to her work.

Ruby frowned, cautiously tapping on the screen when it suddenly flashed to another screen.

"Just tap on the icons and do stuff," Barbara shrugged absentmindedly.

"That's called an iPhone. You can download games and apps on it," the blonde explained.

"It's like a scroll! But smaller."

"Yeah," Barbara smiled, "Almost."

Ruby tapped on a folder that said "Games," straying far away from the folder that said "Kinks."

She was met by an assortment of icons, all with titles she didn't really recognize. Tapping randomly, the screen lit up by some sort of blocky chicken.

"What's Crossy Road?"

"Oh," Barbara said, all traces of happiness drained from her voice, "That game will destroy your soul."

Ruby didn't want her soul to be destroyed.

Trying to get back to home, she accidently started the game. Intrigued by the flappy chicken, she curiously tapped on the screen again, making her blocky character move up.

Her clucking chicken was now in the middle of the road. Ruby gasped as a red car approached the chicken.

"No!" Ruby yelled, tapping furiously on the screen, making the chicken narrowly cross the next 4 roads in quick succession.

Sighing in relief, she tapped again to cross the next road when a massive blue truck came barreling through the road, running over her chicken and turning it into a small splat on the road.

"No! Chicken!" Ruby yelped, gaining a few small giggles from Barbara who was now observing the screaming child.

"What was your high score?" Barbara asked through her giggles.

"12," Ruby said despondently as she saw Barbara's high score of 125.

"How?" Ruby whined, retrying the game to try and beat Barbara's score, only failing as she got 14 as her score.

"You really suck at Crossy Road," Barbara remarked as she slid her chair next to Ruby's and looked down to watch Ruby's futile attempts.

"Hey! I'm really trying!"

"I know. I know," Barbara giggled, unconsciously wrapping her arm around Ruby's shoulders.

Groaning as her chicken died from a speeding police car, Ruby threw the phone on the floor in frustration.

"What are the police doing? They shouldn't be running over innocent chickens!"

"I guess you…" Barbara paused with a smirk, "chickened out."

Ruby groaned, "That was terrible!"

Barbara laughed proudly.

"Godammit Barb," Gus muttered, entering the office as Ruby was picking the phone up from the ground.

"Hi Gus!" Ruby said cheerfully. Gus looked at her in an unamused state and walked past her to his desk.

"Jesus Gus, what crawled up your butt and died?"

Gus sighed again and glared at Barbara. The blonde's face lit up in a smirk and leaned in closer to the Hispanic.

"I bet it was Burnie."

"Shut the fuck up, Barbara!"


	8. Investigation

_Sometimes you need to remind yourself that there is a thin line between Fantasy and Reality. I walk on that line everyday._

* * *

The usual yelling returned to the Achievement Hunter offices. While Michael was off doing something else, the rest of the gang had laid back and relaxed, free from the raging tendencies that the Jersey boy had brought to the group.

But now, since said Jersey boy had returned to the office, business returned as usual.

"Hahahaha! Take that you rotten sook nugget!" Gavin yelled as he drove over Jack's body.

"Loving the teamwork, Gav!" Michael shouted, raising a hand to give Gavin an air high-five.

The team Nice-Dynamite moment was rudely interrupted as Ryan exploded the two with a rocket launcher.

"You're still losing!" Geoff shouted, looking away from the screen to shout directly at the three Lads.

"You still suck!" Ray shot back, just as he shot Geoff in the face.

"What!?" the mustached man shouted at the respawn screen.

The group was now playing Team Deathmatch with Gents, Geoff, Jack and Ryan, against the Lads, Gavin, Michael and Ray.

Obviously now the Gents were winning.

"Woo!" Gavin screamed as he drove a random plane into an unsuspecting Geoff, who had only just respawned.

Their score was raised by 1 but then was evenly matched when Jack set fire to the Brit.

"Take that bitch!" Ryan laughed as he shot-gunned Ray, leaving his mangled body on the floor.

The fight ended with the Gents winning by 1 point. Geoff whooped and laughed, throwing his controller at Gavin.

"We win!"

"Motherfucker!"

"Geoff, are you drunk?"

"Nope! Just high on ecstasy!"

Burnie walked into the office, standing quietly in the corner to wait for the group to finish up. He had to resist from walking in on them from nowhere, just to spite them.

"And we're done!"

Burnie clapped sarcastically, "Bravo!"

Michael nonchalantly flipped him off as he checked the audio and recording.

"What do you want Burnie?" Gavin asked, eating from a packet of chips at his desk.

"I need-"

"Who told you to eat at work?" Ray interrupted, stealing a handful of chips.

"-people to come and help."

"Help with what exactly?" Jack inquired, ignoring Gavin's yelps of protest.

"To find out-"

Burnie cut off, stopping his sentence before asking another question.

"Are you sure nothing's still on?"

Gavin paused suddenly and quickly turned off the audio recording, "Sorry."

A collective groan from the group. Burnie glaring at him.

"I almost let out one of our biggest secrets, Gavin," he sighed before continuing.

"I need people to research everything they can about fictional characters coming to life. See if there's any recent news. And maybe see if there are traces of the rest of them."

"Rest of them?"

"Maybe she's not the only one."

"That's incredibly unlikely," Ryan stated dryly.

"Duh. But when freaking Ruby Rose comes to Earth, it seems like everything possible now."

Ray let out a laugh, "Imagine a million Edgars."

Burnie couldn't help but shiver.

One of the many human traits is curiosity. Curiosity is what drives us to do, to explore and to create. It is evident in infancy and will last throughout the entire human lifespan.

Curiosity is what drove them to investigate.

And what better tool to investigate with than Google?

That night, countless Google searches were done, all relating to the one mystery that was Ruby Rose.

Well, except for Gavin's of course.

Moving on.

After many frustrations and many 'Googling,' their investigation came up with one thing.

Nothing.

Because Wikipedia is unreliable as shit.

The next morning, when Michael and Lindsay drove up to the office with a sleepy Ruby in the back, they were met with a very grumpy Burnie.

After a long look from Burnie, Michael sent Ruby off with Miles and Kerry. Burnie let out a huge sigh.

"This is bullshit! We can't find shit!"

Lindsay rolled her eyes, "Because you used Google, that's why."

"What else were we supposed to use?"

Both Burnie and Michael turned to Lindsay. She shrugged helplessly.

"I don't have _all_ the answers."

"At least we found out that Google doesn't solve anything," Burnie grumbled.

"But we doesn't that mean that we won't be seeing –WBY any time soon?" Michael asked, looking on the bright side.

Burnie glared at Michael, "That's a bad thing. Ruby's going to be here, alone. She doesn't have anyone her age to talk with."

"And Ruby hates being alone," Lindsay pitched in, gathering what she knew from her character.

"Maybe Kara, Arryn and Barbara can distract her for the time being."

Burnie looked around, "Where is Ruby anyways?"

"She's with Miles and Kerry."

Burnie's eyes widened, "Oh shit."

When Ruby walked into the Animation Department, she wasn't expecting to see Miles and Kerry in a sobbing mess on the floor.

"Um, Miles?"

Miles looked up, tear trails still fresh on his face. Kerry continued his pitiful sobs.

"Why are you crying? Please don't cry! Oh no, was it something I did?"

Miles shook his head, "No, no, no. It's not about… Well, maybe."

"It was terrible!" Kerry cried, clutching a cushion to his chest.

Miles got up to his knees and grabbed Ruby's shoulders, "We saw terrible, terrible things."

"Why? How? Can I help?"

Both Miles and Kerry simultaneously stood up, "No!"

"Your innocence will be tainted!"

"You don't need to see Mario fucking Shigeru Miyamoto!"

Ruby blinked, "What?"

Miles glared at Kerry, the latter meekly returning to his spot on the floor.

"Sorry."

"What are you-"

A man walked in, stopping when he saw Kerry sitting on the floor like a child.

"Kerry? What on earth-"

"Why would you name your planet after dirt?" Ruby interrupted.

The man looked over at Ruby, then turned back to Kerry, "What?"

"Sorry Gray," Miles apologized for Kerry.

Gray made a confused gesture before sighing, "You know what? I don't even know anymore."

Miles turned back to Ruby, "We call it Earth because our planet is the ground."

Ruby was silent for a brief second before pretending to nod understandingly, "Oh."

Miles nodded along with Ruby, "Yes."

The conversation died down. The animation was silent now, apart from Kerry's awkward throat clearing.

Gray sighed, shoving Miles away and taking hold of Ruby's hand, "I'm Gray."

"I'm Ruby!"

He nodded, "I know."

Ruby frowned before smiling again, "Nice to meet you."

She glanced Miles' way before facing Gray again, "He's Jaune right?"

Miles gave an excited nod, "Yep!"

"I can tell."

Gray pointed to Kerry, "That's Mr. Cool Dude. Or Neptune, if you prefer."

"You don't have blue hair."

Kerry laughed, "And Gray doesn't have orange either."

"Orange?"

Ruby racked her mind for a person she knew that had orange hair. The only person that came to mind was Penny, but Gray sounded nothing like her.

Or it could be-

"Hey Ruby? Are you okay?"

Ruby nodded furiously, dragging her hand back from the spot Crescent Rose would've been if she had brought it.

"Yep! Definitely."

Gray noticed her discomfort and backed away slightly, "I'll see you guys later. And Kerry? Get off the floor."

"Yes sir."

Gray gave Ruby one last look, "I'll talk to you later Red."


	9. Sheena

**A/N Super short! Sorry!**

* * *

There are two things that are required in order to call a hunter dead in Remnant.

The first: the body's physical state. It need enough blood coursing through its veins. Heart pounding in a stable rate, not too fast nor too slow. The brainpower to do things that makes humans different from other mammals.

And the last, but not least: aura. A hunter cannot, or at least be successful, without the ability to manipulate and use their aura. To be proclaimed dead, a hunter's aura reserves must be empty or not being able to regenerate.

The good news was that Ruby was only completing one of those criteria.

The bad news was that Ruby was technically half-dead.

So when the doctors performed surgery on the girl to prevent her from bleeding out, they didn't really expect to find out that her aura wasn't regenerating.

And since aura is what prevents pain…

The unconscious screaming from the girl would be imprinted in their brains, haunting them with their mistakes. Her voice would be one of many voices that they've once operated on.

They feared that when she would awaken her body would be too damaged, not only by her injuries but the pain.

Ruby was rolled out of the emergency room and put into the Recovery Bay. She was then swarmed by her distraught older sister, a bothered Schnee and a distracted faunus.

And they would stay there, even as the hours rolled past.

It eventually became a waiting game.

Waiting for a sign.

Waiting for any movement.

Waiting… for something at least.

Miles confronted Gray later that day.

"Dude! What the actual fuck?!"

Gray shrugged, "What? I like messing with people."

Miles looked at him, then sighed, "I'll admit, it was kinda funny…"

His expression changed, thrusting his face closer to Gray's, "But I swear to god, if Ruby kills you I'm not helping."

Gray pushed him away, "Calm your tits, Miles. I'll apologize then everything will be okay. Okay?"

Miles studied him, squinting into his eyes. "Okay," he said hesitantly.

"Everything will be okay," Gray said, leaping into Roman's voice for a second.

"Don't fucking do that," Miles hissed.

Michael dragged Ruby away from the spot where she was securely planted on. When he found her, she was still as stone, staring at the spot where Gray had left. Kerry almost pissed his pants as he laughed at her gaping expression.

Michael had asked Kerry multiple questions, all of them unanswered as Kerry rolled on the ground. Eventually Ruby snapped out of her trance and looked at Michael with a terrifyingly serious face.

"Michael," she had asked, "Are you sure you're not harboring a wanted criminal? Because I'm seriously about to run after him!"

Kerry's howling laughter echoed throughout the building, earing many odd looks.

So this is how Michael was now half-carrying a flailing girl in his arms.

"Let go of me!" Ruby grumbled, trying to pry out of Michael's grip.

Michael grinned and threw Ruby down in the ball pit that was set up for Burnie's Office Tour. Ruby pouted and crossed her arms, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the pit.

"Meanie."

Michael laughed as Ruby pelted a couple of balls at his head.

"C'mon, we're going to meet someone."

Ruby's face lit up, reaching out for Michael to carry her. Michael lifted the surprisingly light girl up.

"You're 15," he stated.

"1 plus 5 equals 6. So I'm 6!" Ruby giggled.

"You sure fucking act like it," he grumbled good-naturedly.

Ruby bonked his head with her fist, "Swear!"

"I'm an adult."

"And I'm fifteen," Ruby replied, bonking his head again.

"Six, technically."

Ruby pouted again, then quickly turned it into a curious smile, "Who are we meeting?"

Michael looked between the girl on his shoulder and the floor in front of him.

"You know about Monty right?"

Ruby frowned.

"Well, he had a wife," Michael looked up at Ruby, "And she would like to meet you."

"Oh," Ruby replied simply.

Michael matched Ruby's frown and set her on the ground gently.

"I promise you. She's really nice. You'll like her."

Ruby tried a smile, "Okay."

Sheena wrung her hands together, anxiously waiting for the girl her husband created.

Ruby, along with all of the characters in the show, was basically Monty's children. The love child of Monty and his animation programs. And of course, just like any father, Monty loved them.

It was a no-brainer that Miles and Kerry would carry on RWBY for Monty. As soon as they got the word, they immediately got to work, writing down as many things as they could remember from Monty.

They would not let his children die with him.

It was rather difficult trying to write out the plot without him. As a result of that, there were many unedited lines and fight scenes. It was still unfinished, even with Miles and Kerry's hardest work.

When Barbara announced that RTX was going to be pushed back, the team was relieved, but now it seems like that extra time just wasn't enough.

They knew that it wasn't going to premiere at RTX. Even if they tried their hardest, they would premiere an unfinished project, and they all knew Monty would raise hell if that happened.

When Sheena had gotten the news about Ruby, she knew she had to meet her straight away. Something about that name brought her, if possible, even closer to Monty.

"Sheena."

Michael's unnaturally quiet voice rang out from the doorway, bringing her to attention to the timid girl beside him.

The Jersey boy left respectfully, only increasing Ruby's anxiety. But the sight of the woman before her brought her panic down.

They said nothing, nothing needed to be said. Sheena reached out her hand and Ruby took it.

She couldn't help it, she burst into tears. Ruby, who hated seeing people cry, only joined in.

"I'm sorry," Sheena choked, covering her face with her hand.

Ruby shook her head, "Why are you sorry? You're the one who lost your husband."

Sheena smiled sadly through her tears, "But you're the one that never got to meet him."


	10. Strange

**A/N I don't own RWBY or Rooster Teeth.**

 **Slowly but surely getting back into it. Better late than never right?**

 **EDIT:2/24/16**

* * *

"What are we going to tell her?"

"Hm?"

Michael turned to his wife, cocking his head slightly.

Lindsay sighed, fidgeting with her fingers, "What if we don't find anything? What is she going to do?"

Michael blinked, almost as if he had not considered the question before, "It's only been like three days. It's too early to do anything now."

"Michael…"

"Sweet Jesus, you worry too much."

"Where is she going to stay?"

"With us, of course," he replied, letting her rest her head on his shoulder.

Lindsay crinkled her nose, "I thought you didn't want her to stay with us."

"Things change."

Lindsay removed her head from Michael shoulder, a teasing grin on her features, "That's so sweet."

"Hey! All I'm saying is that she's a nice kid. And that's she's adorable."

Michael glanced at Lindsay, rolling his eyes at her smile, "Idiot."

"Dumbass."

Michael feigned hurt, holding his hand up to his chest, "I'm your husband."

"Nope! You're my main bitch."

The duo laughed quietly, as to not interrupt Ruby and Sheena's conversation in the other room. The two had started talking after their introductions, their tears slowly fading away as they rambled on about things.

Ruby had asked the tough questions first. Sheena answered quickly, but soon her answers grew lengthy as she remembered the stories about Monty.

"He was so productive, always animating and creating. All he wanted to do was to create."

"He must've been amazing."

"He is."

The sun begun set, yet they still conversed. Rambling on about the things he had done and the things he wanted to do.

Ruby had reluctantly said her goodbyes to Sheena when it was time for her to leave. Sheena merely smiled and hugged the child, promising to return soon.

Now Ruby sat in the car, watching the sun fall slowly behind the horizon, thinking about the things that were out there.

Earth was such a strange place, so mysterious. She now knew that Grimm, Dust and even Faunus didn't exist here. These things were a way of life on Remnant, an everyday tool used in their everyday lives. Entire species didn't exist here.

People like Blake wouldn't have existed. The thought of her friend made her suddenly realize how lonely she was.

It felt so similar to her first day at Beacon, a new and strange environment and the people around her. But it was different. In Beacon, she could always call home to her father and she had her team around her constantly.

Her life was turned upside down.

The weight of her situation finally dawned on her. The strong arms of her innocence buckled, letting some of the load fall onto her very own shoulders. How was she going to get home?

There was still hope. They would find a way.

Right?

Will she ever see them again?

She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice Lindsay's sad gaze, watching Ruby as her mind tried –and failed- to fully understand.

And when she did notice, the two whipped their heads around, pretending to not know.

Her ears buzzed, her head swirled. By the time they had arrived at the house, Ruby felt like she was in a haze. Ruby left to the guest room, collapsing on the bed in a heap.

The last thing she saw before passing out was an envelope.

A brightly stamped envelope.

It was Thursday, and it was boring.

She still couldn't get her head around the fact that she was in a show. Ruby had yet to watch the series, but Michael and Lindsay promised that they would watch it soon.

Crescent Rose lay furled up in one of the closets in the guest room. Lindsay told her to put the ammunition in a box, since apparently it was 'illegal'. They also banned any scythe wielding in the house that Ruby reluctantly agreed to. Slicing someone's body open wasn't on her priority list right now.

Michael had given her one of the spare laptops. Ruby spent the rest of the day using Google to find out things about this strange planet, although they did warn her to stay away from Wikipedia.

Wikipedia wasn't the only thing they warned her to see, but curiosity killed the cat, and Ruby swore to never return to that place again.

She saw _that_ part of the internet.

After searching up RWBY, she also found these things called Fanfictions but a small peek some of the rather explicit ones made her close her laptop and not touch it again for another hour.

There was so much to see in the internet, but experiencing things through a screen didn't really help her brain to get her head around the fact that she was in another world.

"We're going to the office!"

Ruby groaned and stretched on her bed, rolling lazily on her red blankets.

"Now?"

"Yes now! So get up!"

A few more groans and Ruby was now out of bed. Lindsay shook her head.

"Teenagers."

Michael laughed from the kitchen, "She might be fifteen but she still acts like a child."

"Yeah, but aren't the toddler years the best years?"

"At least we don't have to wake up in the middle of the night."

Ruby stumbled out of her 'bedroom'. She didn't really think of it as her bedroom, even though Lindsay did name it that.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes! Aren't you excited?"

"I don't like outside."

Lindsay frowned, "I didn't raise you that way."

Ruby paused for a moment before giggling, "I'm joking! Who's there?"

"Everyone. Literally everyone."

Ruby squeaked as Michael threw his Achievement Hunter beanie onto Ruby's head.

"Keep it. It has your hair anyways."

Ruby shoved Michael away, fixing her new headwear to fit on her head, "Are Meg and Gavin coming?"

"Yes," Lindsay replied.

"Unfortunately," Michael added under his breath. Lindsay glared and shoved at his shoulder.

"Why am I getting pushed around today? Bullies."

"Stupid."

Ruby rolled her eyes at the friendly banter and let her eyes wander out the window. Technically, she wasn't supposed to be out here. If any fans recognized them, news of her appearance would spread fast. Thankfully, Michael and Lindsay had prepared for anything that could happen.

She didn't know how prepared they were though. Probably not a lot.

"Oh god. Look it's the annoying prick!" Michael impersonated a British accent. Ruby giggled, waving her hand at Gavin who waved back.

Michael pulled into a parking spot, tires screeching painfully as he braked rather aggressively. Ruby saw Gavin visibly cringe at the noise.

Michael grinned and pulled down the window, "Pussy!"

"It's Thursday!" Lindsay yelled out the window, as if she was explaining Michael's behavior. Gavin nodded nervously. His nervousness disappeared as he spotted Ruby in the back seat.

"Hey Rubes!" Gavin smiled as he opened the door for her.

"Hi Gav!" Ruby hugged the man and smiled at Meg who was quickly approaching their position.

"What's up with the handbag?" Michael pointed to the bag Gavin was holding.

"It's Ruby's present," he tilted his head, "an Earth-coming present?"

"Ooh! I wanna see!"

Meg took the bag from Gavin and patted Ruby's beanie, "Later."

Ruby giggled and skipped towards the massive hanger that was the Rooster Teeth Offices. Burnie drove past in a golf cart, waving nonchalantly.

"Guys! I need to borrow Michael later. Stay right there."

Michael nodded at his former boss and immediately disobeyed his orders, waltzing straight into the office. Burnie rolled his eyes and drove away.

"What are we doing today?"

"Well _I'm_ recording Rage Ouit. It's not really for you so you can go hang out with Gavin or Geoff. Just don't stray too far, people here are working."

Ruby nodded, watching as Miles fired a nerf gun at Brandon who ducked his head and quickly ran away.

"Okay," Ruby said, nonplussed.

As soon as they got into the Achievement Hunter offices, Ruby leapt on the couch and covered herself in gold block cushions.

"I'm making a fort," she explained to Ray, who looked up from his game to squint at the Remnan girl.

"Alright," he spoke shortly, going back to his game like nothing had happened. Ruby looked away awkwardly and grabbed the obsidian cushion for her fort.

Michael disappeared, probably to record whatever. Lindsay was off somewhere editing and Meg left to record The Know.

"Thanks for the rose. I left it at home," Ruby said to Ray, trying to make some conversation in the almost empty room.

"No problem. I have that thing with roses too. And cakes. Apparently, I guess."

Ruby craned her head around to see his screen, "What are you playing?"

"It's a game called Life is Strange. I don't know what I'm doing."

Ruby tilted her head. Gaming was a huge part of Michael and Lindsay's life. In fact, literally everyone she'd met here played games.

A small smile adorned her face as she remembered how she and Yang would sneak off to the arcade after school at Signal. Yang would take out a couple of coins she 'borrowed' off Dad and split them in half. She never shared them unfairly. Maybe because going to the arcade was more for Ruby instead of Yang.

Or maybe she just wanted the memories. Ruby wished she had gathered more.

"What's it about?"

Ray laughed, "It's hard to explain. It's about a high-school girl who can rewind time. She has to save her best friend or something from getting shot. It's kinda weird."

Ruby grinned, "I guess we're both kinda weird. Girls with superpowers."

"I guess I'm a high-school girl that can rewind time then," Ray quipped, pressing a button to activate his time travelling powers.

"We can be superheroes together."

" _Girl_ superheroes," Ray emphasized, "We can't forget the _girl_ part."

"You're a girl anyways."

Ray faked hurt, putting a hand to his chest, "I'm offended."

Ray finally looked at Ruby, scanning over her blanket of gold blocks with an unusually sad look on his face.

"I should go. You can play if you want," he says, taking off his headphones and placing them on the desk. Ray gives Ruby one last look before leaving the office.

Ruby sits on her throne of gold before a British voice jolts her out of her meaningless trance.

"That was strange."

Ruby smiles, "Life is strange."


	11. Fitting In

**A/N I do not own RWBY or Rooster Teeth.**

 **Hi! I'm still alive!**

 **And as an appreciation for your patience, I've included a character that many RT fans might appreciate.**

 **So enjoy, and maybe try not to hate me as much.**

 **EDIT: 2/24/16**

* * *

Gavin and Ruby played Minecraft.

Gavin guided Ruby on her gaming adventure. Well, at least he tried to. Explaining how to make a username took way too long for something so simple. It was a collection of bad instructions and miss-presses. Eventually, they finally got into the game.

And immediately died. Ruby drowned.

"Press the 'A' button!"

Ruby's eyes flickered to the strangely shaped controller in her hands, quickly checking that she was pressing the 'A' button with her thumb.

"I am!"

"Don't mash it! Hold it down!"

Ruby's end of the screen flashed to the death screen. Ruby pouted and got back in, staying far away from the water's edge.

"This place is so blocky. These graphics are terrible!"

Gavin shook his head and punched a tree, something that Ruby laughed at.

"Why are you punching a tree?"

A piece of tree trunk disappeared and reappeared as a smaller version in Gavin's hand. Gavin's green hand.

"I'm getting wood."

"Why are you green?"

Gavin shrugged, "I'm a Creeper."

"Ew."

"Not that kind."

Ruby proved to be incapable of breaking any blocks, or holding down the triggers long enough for them to break. She watched as Gavin punched a pig.

"Why are you punching a pig? They didn't do anything to you!"

"We need food."

The pig disappeared in a white cloud before leaving two pink pork-chops that Gavin picked up and ate.

"Really? That's not even cooked."

"We don't need to cook them," Gavin sighed in frustration, "I swear, I'm like the smart one here."

"You are the smart one!"

Gavin paused the game, looking at Ruby strangely as if he didn't know what she was talking about, "Let's do something else."

"Great! I was really confused anyway."

The man furrowed his eyebrows at her, almost teasingly, "You got confused at a kids game."

"It's not my fault you're green!"

Gavin put his hands up in the air, showing her his palms. Ruby laughed, her silver eyes glinting in the light mischievously.

It was fun to mess with people. Gavin reached over to his desk, grabbing the 'handbag' Meg had left for him.

"Present time?" Ruby asked hopefully.

Gavin chucked the bag at Ruby, which wasn't really a handbag and more like a shopping bag from a shop called Target. Ruby caught it deftly. Taking a quick glance at the logo, Ruby glanced up at Gavin who was watching her shake the bag with an excitement that could be mistaken for Christmas.

"Open it."

Ruby shrugged and followed his instruction, fingers instinctively finding the tears in the bag and ripping it apart. Gavin made a big show of leaning back in faked shock.

Ruby giggled as she took out a white box with something heavy in it.

"Oooh! What's this?"

Gavin took the box from Ruby and slid it open, "This is an iPhone."

"Barbara has one of those! She let me use it."

"You can download apps and play games and stuff. And call people. I already gave you your number and bought you some credit."

"Already?" Ruby was surprised. It was incredible to see how much these people cared for her.

"Yeah. And put 50 bucks in your iTunes account. I did everything. There's headphones in the bag if you want to listen to some music."

"Bucks? Is that the currency here?"

Gavin giggled, if men could giggle, "No, that's just a term for money. In the USA, money is called dollars."

Ruby blinked, taking the phone from Gavin, "You didn't have to do this."

"I wanted to," Gavin smirked, "Since you're living with the Jones', I've announced myself as your self-proclaimed uncle."

Ruby laughed and poked him the shoulder, "Thanks Uncle Gavin."

Then she paused, "How did you pay for this?"

Gavin blushed and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, "Michael always makes fun of my bank account."

"What's wrong with your bank account?"

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing."

Gavin handed Ruby a coke, just to see if she'll go sugar high like in many of the fanfiction the RWBY fans wrote.

"Is this a soda?"

Ruby looked down at the red can after seeing him nod. The surface was cool to touch, the ice biting through her fingers.

"Are there any People Like Grapes cans here?"

Gavin suppressed a laugh before shaking his head, "I made that up."

Ruby looked at him in surprise, "You made a soda?"

"No. I just said something really stupid and it turned into a shirt. They put it in the show as an Easter egg."

"I like Easter."

"You have Easter? I didn't know that."

"I liked Christmas best. I always used to curl up in front of the fireplace with Yang and Dad."

Ruby's silver eyes turned soft, her mind fondly flashing back to the last Christmas she had with her family back before she and Yang went off to Beacon.

Gavin gave her a smile, a smile that was so familiar to her. A fake smile.

"Maybe you can celebrate Christmas here. We can have a family celebration here."

Ruby's heart skipped a beat. What did that mean? It was so early in the year, how was she going to stay here until Christmas? She was going back to Remnant. Right?

"Yeah," Ruby returned his smile, just to please him, "Okay."

Gavin drank his coke just to fill the silence that followed. Ruby joined him and the two drank their drinks in the quiet kitchen.

The taste of the drink was strange, almost as if her brain didn't want to comprehend it. But after a few sips, the sugary flavor came through. Ruby smiled at the familiar rush of energy.

"I'm Vav."

Ruby perked her eyes up, "What?"

"Do you know about X-Ray and Vav?"

"Do you mean that comic book Jaune's always reading?"

Gavin nodded, brushing his dirty blond hair out of his eyes. Ruby giggled, "Jaune always used to freak out when he got another issue."

Ruby frowned slightly at her use of the word 'used,' but her attention was drawn to Gavin's surprised expression.

"They never put anything like that in the show."

Ruby shrugged, "I don't think it follows _every_ part of our lives. At least I hope so."

"So is there anything that we don't know about you?"

Ruby gives him a peculiar smile, then hangs her head low, "I haven't watched the show yet."

Gavin raises an eyebrow, then grabs her arm in a rough but excited manner. Ruby yelped and tried to jump away but her 'uncle' just lifted her up in the air and carried her to the Animation Department.

Ruby dangled from Gavin's grasp, desperately clutching handfuls of his shirt in fear of being dropped. Gavin laughed, his gleeful expression causing Ruby to join in.

"Gavin stop! Michael and Lindsay want to watch it with me!"

Gavin paused for a moment. If Michael wanted to watch RWBY with her, he was quite obviously going to kick his butt if he spoiled it for him. Opting for the safest route, he resumed walking, "Then let's go behind the scenes!"

Shane's work was interrupted by giggles. Tearing his eyes away from his screen, he watched as Gavin carried a hyper teenager into his line of vision. Rolling his eyes, he returned his typing.

Gavin let Ruby down after her joking threats to hit him. Gavin highly doubted that she would even think about it, but when you're in the presence of a scythe-wielding prodigy, you can't really take any chances.

Ruby skipped up to Shane, and with a curious glance she spoke, "What you doing?"

Shane tilted his head up to look at the cheerful gaze of the Remnan. He briefly thought back to their first encounter but shrugged as he answered monotonously.

"I'm working on Red vs Blue."

"What's that?"

Shane didn't really have time to explain. Explaining that he was working on an ongoing 13 season machinima about a video game wasn't something that an ordinary person wanted to talk about.

But then again, Ruby was not an ordinary person.

"It's complicated."

"Everything's complicated to me!"

Shane gave Gavin a pleading look, one that Gavin did not get whatsoever. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Gavin finally got the message and rescued Shane from conversing with the still waiting Ruby.

"Seriously Rubes, you don't want to know. Basically there's a guy that's really a robot, but he doesn't know it and when he finally realizes, he dies."

Gavin pauses to take a breath. Ruby looks stumped at the seemingly dark ending.

"And then he gets resurrected in another robot that remembers him but suddenly there's a huge plot twist and the guy is actually based off the bad guy and the bad guy is actually just trying to recreate his girlfriend."

Shane mentally face palmed as Gavin created another, and painful, silence. The presence of Ruby, Gavin and himself was literally giving off awkwardness.

"Can you repeat that?"

"Oh for fu-," Shane cut himself off as he slammed his hands onto the desk, then giving Gavin a glare.

"Can you not try to explain the plot of Red vs Blue?"

"Trust me. I'm already confused just thinking about it."

"Story of my life," Ruby agreed.

Shane sighed and resumed his work, dragging his mouse across the screen. He tried desperately to not think about the Ruby leaning over his shoulder. After a few clicks of his mouse, Gavin's nose appeared over his other shoulder.

Casting a small, unnoticed glance at the duo, he tried to focus on his work.

"Are they fighting?"

Shane let out a faint breath of relief, "Yes."

"Why?"

Shane pursed his lips, trying to think of a less complicated answer, "Because they have some unresolved problems."

"Who's the blue-turquoise one?"

"That's Carolina. The other one is Sharkface."

"What kind of name is Sharkface?"

Shane regretted what he thought earlier. This was worse than the silence.

"Oh god okay, okay, okay we're so fucked."

Matt snapped, "Burnie, shut up. We're not fucked, we're just-"

"-fucked," Burnie finished, standing in the middle of Matt's office with his hands out as if he wanted God to come down and un-fuck them.

Matt sighed and stood up from his desk, "It's fine, Burnie."

"No, we are not! There's literally an alien downstairs and we have no fucking clue how to get her back!"

"Can you stop saying that? There is a way to get her back, we just haven't found it yet."

Burnie ran over to Matt's desk, still in his Office Tour suit, "How do you know that!?"

Matt flipped over a pile of paperwork, "CAN YOU STOP YELLING?"

"CAN YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW WE ARE GOING TO GET A _FICTIONAL_ CHARACTER BACK INTO A _FICTIONAL_ WORLD!?"

"FOR GOD'S SAKE BURNIE! SHE'S NOT _FICTIONAL_ ANYMORE! WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THAT?!"

Burnie opened his mouth, then closed it again, only large breaths being expelled from his mouth. Matt was in a similar position, except calmer.

"We have other things to worry about."

"No we don't! How are we going to keep her safe here?"

Matt swallowed painfully, "I have friends at a police station. They can deal with it."

"Are you saying that we turn her in?!"

"No!" Matt immediately replied, "I'm not a monster. They can deal with any attacks and shit."

"They're not going to believe that! They'll get suspicious! They'll ask questions!" Burnie clenched the edge of Matt's desk tightly, "She doesn't exist in this world."

Matt stared at Burnie, his tense muscles relaxing as his brain's gears began to turn.

"What if we make her exist?"

"Matt are you high? What are you even talking about?"

Matt shuffled around his desk, an action that proved to have no purpose except for fueling Matt's brain power.

"We need to make her an identity."

Burnie spluttered incredulously at Matt's words, "You're insane."

"No, no. Think about it. If Ruby can get an identity, she can go out there and do normal teenager things."

"Are you on drugs? Because I'm pretty sure you're on drugs. Are you saying that Ruby won't be able to get back to Remnant?"

Matt paused, thinking about his next words carefully, "I'm pretty sure there's a way. But until we find out, we need to make it as normal as possible. And if she has an identity- even a fake one- she can experience what it's like. For now."

"You're high."

"Ruby needs to get out there and see the world. Imagine being stuck in here. It would drive me crazy. Imagine what it would do to Ruby."

Burnie stopped his accusations of Matt being on drugs and actually listened.

"How?"

"What?"

"How are we going to make her an identity?"

Matt didn't have an answer. His mind was too full of reasons to convince Burnie that this was- in fact- the best option.

"I-uh," he stammered.

"Yeah genius," Burnie scoffed, some of his dignity returning back, "How are we going to _make_ an identity?"

Matt collapsed on his seat and just sat there as Burnie's sarcastic personality returned. What the hell was he thinking? _Making_ an identity? Impossible.

 _Impossible_.

"Let me know when you find out the vital part of your plan, Einstein," Burnie shot harshly as he walked out the door.

Gavin was a quarter-way through explaining the plot of Red vs Blue, a tremendous feat for someone that couldn't even explain how to make a username on the Xbox, even if he wasn't doing much of a good job of it.

Shane grumbled under his breath as he noticed Gavin miss out another plot point and move onto another tangent about minor characters.

It was incredible to see how Gavin used to be a major Red vs Blue fan, but couldn't explain how Project Freelancer started. Hell, Gavin got a job at RT for being one of the early Red vs Blue fans.

"I voiced a guy named Jones, except everyone kept saying it as 'Jo-en-nes'. And then I got shot by Caboose."

"I like Caboose."

"Everyone likes Caboose," Shane muttered, trying to block out the endless rambles that Gavin was travelling down.

"He's funny."

"And he's Joel. Everyone loves Joel," Gavin contributed.

"Alright! Fine! Just stop talking about Red vs Blue," Shane huffed, dragging his mouse across to look for any imperfections in Carolina's jump.

"But why? I want to watch it now."

Gavin shook his head, "You might not like the swearing in it."

"Oh, okay."

Another silence.

"Oh shoot. I have to go. Geoff needs me," Gavin looks at Ruby apologetically after glancing at his phone.

"It's alright."

"No, no. I can't leave you here. I'm bringing you to the offices. Just stay quiet, and don't interrupt the recording."

Ruby nodded warily, allowing Gavin to take ahold of her arm and drag her off to the Achievement Hunter Offices.

Shane sighed. Finally, some peace and quiet.

Miles ran across the Animation Department, chasing Blaine with a Nerf gun, "Take him down boys!"

"Fuck."

It turned out that sitting quietly in a room full of swearing men was even more boring than she had originally thought.

Ruby had rebuilt her fort of gold block cushions and was now sitting in the middle of it with her new phone, trying to work out this newfangled technology.

Eventually, she gave up and gave the phone to Gavin who was waiting for his character to respawn. The rest of them noticed but barely changed their conversation in order to cover up the fact that there was a fictional character in the office.

The phone was rather similar to Barbara's, except a bit emptier and spacious. The new headphones were obviously picked out especially for her. Red, sleek and the RWBY symbol on each ear pad. Trying them on, she resisted the urge to squeal at the softness of it.

Ruby plugged the accessory in, after spending a few minutes finding the port, and began her search for the music. Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard, after catching sight of a music note with 'Music' underneath. Her list was empty.

Glancing over to Gavin, she noticed that he was way too preoccupied with his raging co-worker to help her. Michael was said co-worker.

Frowning, she put her thumb on her chin, a perplexed look on her face. She was too busy thinking to notice the small child sneaking into her fort.

"Hi!"

Ruby jumped and let out a small yelp before clasping a hand over her mouth.

Geoff looked over to the two, and sighed, "Millie? I told you to stay with Lindsay."

Millie grinned a gap toothed grin, "Sorry Daddy. I'll be quiet."

"Fine," Geoff grumbled.

Ruby glanced at the child before glancing back at Geoff, then repeating the process again.

"I'm Millie!" Millie stage-whispered, stretching out her small hand.

Ruby shook it. "Nice to meet you. I'm Ruby," she replied, her initial surprise wearing off.

It was possible that Ruby was the only one feeling the awkwardness of their situation, but Millie didn't really notice.

"What are you doing?" the blonde girl asked a bit too loudly, completely disregarding her promise to Geoff. And also earning the small glances from Jack and Ryan. Millie didn't seem to mind.

"I'm trying to, uh…" Ruby trailed off, wondering how a 9 year old child was going to react to a 15 year old teenager not knowing how a phone works. She didn't even know if Millie even knew about her.

Which is probably plausible after Ruby remembered the flash of recognition in her eyes when they first caught eye-contact.

"Are you looking for music? Ooh! I can help," Millie smiled enthusiastically, snatching the phone out of Ruby's hands and scrolled and tapped on the screen. Ruby tried to keep up, but eventually Millie's expertise in these areas outweighed Ruby's weakened semblance.

Not to mention the fact that she was slightly disturbed at Millie's childish antics, even though she knew she had done some of these things before. Mostly to Weiss, but sometimes even Blake. Yang never minded though.

"What are you looking for?" Millie asked, with a light of positivity in her voice. She showed the screen to Ruby, scrolling though the newly released albums.

Ruby didn't really know what music she wanted. Her playlist at home was a seemingly endless list of names, but Yang's playlist made hers look miniscule.

"Um…" Ruby mumbled, trying to rack her brain for the names of the songs Lindsay had put on the radio. Eventually she gave up and said the first song she thought of.

"Try searching for _This Will Be the Day_."

There it was again, the flash of recognition in Millie's eyes. The look quickly vanished, replaced by a look of happiness. The happiness to help.

Millie typed in the song title with a slow but somehow expert few taps of the screen then grinned as the search result came up with a few names.

Millie gave the phone back to Ruby, who smiled gratefully at her help. Millie simply replied with a grin, so stunningly bright it lit up the room.

"Thank you, Millie."

"No problem! I'm here to help!"


	12. Thawed Ice

**EDIT:2/24/16**

* * *

The second Michael saw Ruby with her headphones on, he laughed.

"Jesus Gav, don't want it to be too obvious," he chuckled, shaking his head at Gavin, "but I guess you can't be too picky. They look great."

Ruby smiled as Gavin looked at Michael, surprised he didn't get an ass beating. Ruby hopped over to his 'uncle' and showed him her phone.

"Is this it?"

Gavin nodded at the sight of the RWBY thumbnail on one of the albums, "How'd you find it so fast?"

"I had some help," Ruby grinned down at the younger girl beside her. Millie perfectly imitated her grin, and wrapped her arms around her for good measure.

"I like you. Are we friends? Tell me we're friends!"

Ruby giggled and hugged the smaller girl, "Yes. We're friends."

"Yay! We can go ice-skating together! And watch Frozen!"

Michael watched the duo with an increasing amount of humor. He glanced over to Geoff who was laughing quietly to himself.

"They got along quite well didn't they," he stated, mixing in a genuine tone with sarcasm. Geoff nodded.

The Achievement Hunters were finishing up, gathering all their footage and audio to send off to the editors. Ray was the first one finished, leaving as quickly as he came. Ryan said he had some sort of meeting to go to about a show called Free Play, and Jack left to plan the upcoming Let's Play Live.

Ruby and Millie talked for a while, now walking down the many corridors the RT Office had. Michael had shooed them off to Lindsay, an action that Ruby now had gotten somewhat accustomed to.

Millie giggled, skipping down the hall with an enthusiasm only rivalled by Ruby of the past. Ruby briefly wondered if this was what Weiss felt every day, watching as Ruby's younger self wake her team up with a blow horn that Weiss almost immediately confiscated.

"Is Michael your dad?"

Ruby paused, blinking at the innocent question before restoring her resolve to keep walking.

"Not really. Why do you ask?"

Millie giggled again, a sound that Ruby remembered coming out of her own mouth.

"Because he's like, 'oh no, don't bother me, go bother your mom instead'," Millie lapsed into her 'New Jersey Michael' voice.

Ruby's heart stopped for a split-second before smiling to hide her frown.

"So Lindsay's like my mom, huh?" Ruby asked quietly, her voice cracking slightly at the 'm' word.

"Yep! I've never seen you anywhere before, and I've been to Michael and Lindsay's wedding!"

"You've been to their wedding?" Ruby tried to laugh, desperately trying to change the painful subject.

"Yeah! It was last year and I was the flower girl! I got to keep the bouquet!"

"That's great!" Ruby exclaimed, willing herself to act as enthusiastic as Millie was.

"It had flowers and everything! There were roses, and I'm pretty sure some lilac flowers too!"

This was harder than she'd thought. Time to change the subject again.

"Do you know where you're going?"

Millie turned around and faked a scoff and threw her short hair over the back of her head, "Of course I do!"

Ruby pointed at the Achievement Hunter Office door where they had just come from. Millie deflated somewhat before lighting up again and resumed skipping to where she guessed Lindsay would be.

Ruby followed the overly-enthusiastic girl before almost being run over by an angry looking Burnie.

His angry expression changed the second he caught sight of her.

"Oh! Hi Ruby. I was just talking to Matt."

Ruby smiled brightly, looking up at Burnie with a face flushed with hope.

"Am I going home?"

Burnie let the silence draw out for more than a few seconds before mumbling a "maybe" and rushing away, presumably to his golf cart.

Ruby shrugged and kept walking towards the direction Millie was heading. Burnie's hesitant reply dug a small seed of doubt in her head, only feeding the slowly growing sapling of uncertainty.

She didn't let these things bring her down, of course. Nothing ever did, according to her dad. Her real dad, by the way.

"I found her!" Millie yelled as she unceremoniously dragged Lindsay over to Ruby as best as a 9 year old could do.

"Where did you go off to?" Lindsay asked, a small teasing smile on her features as she was tugged along by a jumping ball of energy. Ruby took her phone out of her pocket and showed it to Lindsay.

"Is this the thingy? Gavin said it was, but he was the one who was green."

As soon at Lindsay saw the title of RWBY's soundtrack, a worrying look befell upon her face. Mumbling a quick apology, she grabbed the phone as quickly as she could and scrolled through it for a few seconds.

"Maybe you shouldn't listen to this yet. I mean, who knows what kind of matrix-y stuff can happen?" she was muttering under her breath. Ruby had a feeling that she didn't know she was listening.

Ruby frowned and tried to get up on her tiptoes to catch a glimpse at what Lindsay was doing. The moment she was tall enough to see the screen, Lindsay brought it down again and handed it to her.

"I got it for you. Apparently the password it just 'password123'," she tried a laugh, "Classic Gavin, amiright?"

Ruby cautiously retrieved her phone, but all traces of suspicion disappeared as soon as she saw the stock pile of music Lindsay had given her.

"That's some of Red vs Blue's soundtrack. The soundtrack for all 13 seasons is a bit extensive so I picked out some of the best ones. Oh, I guess you're looking for RWBY's soundtrack too. Don't worry it's in there too."

Apparently Lindsay was as bad of a liar as Ruby was, but her partial lie was left unnoticed as Ruby dug her head further into the screen of her phone.

Hopefully she didn't notice that one song she purposely left out.

"If you hear another song you like on the radio, just type in the title there," Lindsay tapped on the search bar.

"This is awesome! Thanks Lindsay!"

"No problem. I like your headphones."

Ruby smiled and looked down at the accessory hanging on her neck, "Michael said the same thing. And Gavin's my uncle now."

Lindsay was about to say something else but thought better of it and laughed awkwardly, "Oh man, I was going to say something but you wouldn't get it."

"What?"

"Oh nothing. It's way too inappropriate."

Ruby pouted, "Is everything inappropriate here?"

"Probably. We are Rooster Teeth."

Millie was watching this exchange and groaned suddenly, "I'm bored. Can we go to the kitchen? I'm hungry."

Lindsay turned her attention to the other child she was supposed to be looking after, "Of course, Millie. What do you say Rubes? We go get some nom noms?"

Ruby giggled and took Millie's outstretched hand, following as Millie led the way to the kitchen.

"Where's your mo-, uh, I mean Griffin?"

"Mommy's gone to a chainsaw competition! That's why daddy brought me here."

Lindsay turned to Ruby, "Ruby, you should see Griffin's work! She makes art out of chainsaws."

"Sounds awesome," Ruby nodded, the image of a taller, older version of Millie handling a chainsaw. Doesn't compare to her own badass mother though. At least that's what dad told her.

"I'm making a sandwich! Do you have any Fanta too?"

Lindsay shrugged, making her way to the fridge, "Let's check. The boys never check the back so there might be some left."

Millie made an excited sound and stole some sandwiches from a container labeled 'Geoff'. Lindsay handed Millie her Fanta and craned her head up to Ruby who was watching curiously.

"Do you want anything?"

Ruby hummed, remembering the refreshing sugary drink she had with Gavin, "Is there something called a Coke?"

Lindsay looked slightly surprised for a second but reached down to grab a can, "How di- oh never mind."

"Gavin." Ruby stated blandly before sitting down beside Millie who was happily munching on a sandwich. Lindsay tossed Ruby a bag of chips from one of the drawers and retrieved one of her own.

Ruby wanted to ask, 'when am I going home?', but Millie's presence prevented her from spilling out and washing Lindsay over with questions. It seemed like Lindsay was thinking the same thing.

"Stupid Matt," Burnie mumbled, his anger returning as soon as Ruby was out of sight, "God, he's probably on weed or something. I should blame Ray."

"What the fuck are you doing?"

Burnie looked up, finding himself in the Animation Department. Acting like he had a purpose for being here, he huffed at Shane with his hands at his hips.

"Well? I'm waiting."

"You were literally just talking about weed."

"Absolutely not. I can still fire you."

Shane showed Burnie his palms in mock surrender, "What are you waiting for anyways?"

"Your plan! The theory!"

"Oh that thing? Nope, it was a bust."

"Are you fucking serious right now?" Burnie snapped, lowering his voice to an angry whisper which somehow was scarier than him shouting.

"Dude, if we somehow made an alternate dimension where Ruby's dead or really injured, then it's not a bust."

Burnie stared at him and scoffed, "I swear, someone is selling drugs in this company."

"It's a theory. Hypothetically, it could be possible."

"Shane. Your theory. Potato. Literally fucking potato. Fucking bye," Burnie walked out the open space with really couldn't be said as a room. And he might've lost the ability to speak in complete sentences.

Shane held his breath as Burnie disappeared, then exhaled slowly.

"And that people," he grinned triumphantly, "is how you get rid of annoying people on drugs."

Ruby sat, watching the older woman shuffle around awkwardly.

Lindsay had insisted that she had to go off and talk to Miles, leaving Ruby alone with a content child almost 6 years younger than her. Kara had walked past, and noticing Ruby, she took the two children in.

Millie had wandered off, looking for her father and leaving Ruby with Kara. Ruby figured not to follow, since this was the voice actor of her teammate and partner. Although her care-taking skills were lacking.

Let's just say that Kara didn't have much experience in babysitting.

"I never babysit! This is so cool right?"

Ruby blinked at Kara. It was like Kara had the voice of a slightly more enthusiastic Weiss but had the words of a hyper Ruby.

"Um, what do you do here?" Ruby asked cautiously, almost afraid that she'll awaken the Ice Queen that didn't exist.

"I sit at the front desk and annoy Gus!"

Ruby froze, not knowing how to respond. Kara deflated somewhat.

"I know. You're scared of Weiss!"

Ruby opened her mouth to say something but closed it when she found out that she had nothing to say.

"It's okay, I get scared of her too!"

This helped Ruby somewhat, but she still didn't know what to say to her, "Well, uh, she yells a lot."

Kara grinned, "I know right? Sometimes Miles goes into the booth with me and I get a hell of a kick yelling at him!"

Ruby matched Kara's grin, "She gets mad a lot, when I don't study. I mean, it's not my fault the book's in cursive! Sometimes I don't even know why she does it."

"Maybe you do."

Kara's face flushed as Ruby looked up at her looking for an answer.

"I mean, she gets mad a lot, and she might be a bit… bitchy. But she means well! All she wants is for you to improve! You know how she yells at you for not working hard enough? That's because she wants to push your limits and be better, I suppose."

Kara trailed off as Ruby contemplated over her words.

Maybe it was true. Weiss wasn't trying to hurt her, she was trying to help.

"Weiss wants the best for her team. And she might have a weird way of doing it but she means well."

"Promise?"

Kara blinked at the childish request, but knelt down and held her pinky out.

"Pinky promise."

Ruby smiled, because pinky promises were the ultimate of promises.


	13. Images

**EDIT: 2/24/16**

* * *

Everything was different, and change wasn't something that Ruby took quite well. She was idealistic, often making up slightly less awkward scenarios in her head after an embarrassing encounter. She did the same with Weiss, thinking how different it would be if she hadn't trampled on her boxes of dust that day.

Yang was too, except more free driven. Ruby wanted to be someone, be someone like her mother. But Yang wanted to be herself. Being a huntress to her was like a free ticket to a thriller ride.

Ruby wondered how Yang would've reacted to this new Earth thing. Probably better than her.

Ruby could see her now, lying on her stomach as she watched her cross-legged sister play around with her laptop.

Michael let Ruby have the spare laptop. The beanie that was formally owned by him was now on her head. Ruby tried to reject his gifts, which admittedly was something she hoped he wouldn't take up, but thankfully he had shrugged it off and gave it to her anyways.

 _"I bet there's some crazy fanfics out there."_

Ruby glanced at the image of her sister and sighed quietly, "I'm not going to read those."

 _"Those WhiteRose ones look pretty cool."_

Ruby blushed at the mention of her and Weiss' shipping name. Shooting a glare at the cackling blonde, she cringed as she caught sight of another fanfic of her and Weiss' unusual activities.

"No, and no."

 _"Oh c'mon. I make fun of Blake and me all the time. Just because-"_

"Yang, for the last time, I am not a lesbian."

 _"You don't know that. You're 15 and never had a boyfriend."_

"I could be asexual."

 _"Oh please."_

Ruby groaned and clicked on a random link that brought her to a bland background and a couple of walls of text. The summary was fairly short and only had 1 chapter with a couple thousand words. Yang grinned and leaned in closer to take a look.

 _"Out of all the cute and cuddly fanfics, you chose a smutty one? Good job Ruby. Didn't know you had some kinks in ya."_

Ruby hung her head down and let Yang skim through it. Yang whistled a couple times and was giggling uncontrollably by the end.

 _"Oh my god, who made this? I swear to Mont-"_

"It's bad isn't it? Nope, I'm done," Ruby concluded before closing the window and bringing up some pictures of kittens to bleach her brain.

 _"Oh c'mon! Could've given me some pointers."_

Yang paused before adding with a smirk and a courteous gesture to the screen, _"some_ cat _pointers."_

Ruby shuddered, "I don't think Blake would like that."

 _"Or do you?"_

Ruby stared at the faint image of her sister. Yang broke out laughing.

 _"I'm joking. Seriously, the girl's too caught up with Sun to notice the blonde beauty in her team."_

"I think you and Sun lit up the entire school."

"Um, Ruby?"

Ruby looked up, seeing Michael's concerned face in the doorway. She quickly turned to her sister, only to find that she had disappeared.

"Yes?" Ruby stammered before hiding her head in her laptop, which admittedly didn't do much of a job.

"Who were you talking to?"

"N-nobody!"

Michael still studied her flustered face, "O-kay?"

"I was talking to myself!"

"Right."

She could tell Michael wasn't convinced, cautiously scanning the room for unwanted strangers. Ruby noticed that he was ready to shoot off a thousand questions as he looked around. Before long, he had nodded and walked off.

Ruby bit her lip, knowing that Michael would immediately report the incident to Lindsay. Yang reappeared next to her.

 _"What was that about? Overprotective much."_

"He was trying to help me."

 _"So? Doesn't mean he gets to pry into our business."_

"Michael means well."

 _"Are you sure?"_

Ruby glared, suddenly becoming defensive about the man that took her in.

"What are you talking about?"

 _"I'm just saying. Do you really think you could trust this guy? One minute he was looking for a way to get rid of you, the next he's like your child. Are you really sure about him? About both of them?"_

The thing was, Ruby was never sure about things. Ever since she could make decisions for herself, she doubted her every step. Now she was alone, and uncertainty flooded her mind and body. Every movement made her cautious. She would often find herself scanning her eyes through the dark corners of Michael and Lindsay's house, half-expecting the red eyes of Grimm staring back at her.

 _"Think about it,"_ Yang faded into the air, leaving Ruby alone in the suddenly very cold room.

Trying to remove her sister's words from her head, she stood up and made her way to the kitchen.

What was she even thinking about? The thing that she was talking to wasn't even Yang.

"I'm going insane," she mumbled, pretending not to notice Michael and Lindsay's worried glances. Ruby's arms worked automatically, grabbing an apple from the counter. Before she could retreat to the safety of the guest room, Lindsay blocked her way.

"What's going on? You seem kinda down."

"I'm fine."

That sent extreme alarm bells in Lindsay's head. She began to go through all the options she had in her head. After a second of hesitance, she nodded mutely.

Ruby sighed internally. Even if she knew that Lindsay wasn't one to pry, she was still the worst liar. She could see Michael glare at Lindsay, obviously fighting the urge to come straight out and demand her to tell the truth.

Ruby walked down the hall, then started walking faster. She was running by the time she had arrived at the room.

Escape was what she needed. No, not escape. Home.

She sat on her bed, trying to catch her breath. She was slower than she'd used to be, even without her semblance. If she could see her aura levels, she knew it would be teetering on the edge of orange. Aura didn't regenerate as quickly here, even with a few good night rests. The fainting spell she'd suffered early on still had its effect.

Oh well, it wasn't like she needed her aura anyways. At least that's what she hoped.

Suddenly, Ruby felt the urge to go outside. Her aura might be low, but her yearning for fun was as high as usual. Ruby didn't really want to face Michael and Lindsay right now but she sighed, knowing that she would have to face them sooner or later.

Ruby left the room again, leaving the forgotten apple on her bedsheets.

By the time she had reached the living room, she could hear Michael and Lindsay's hushed whispering. She hated it when people whispered, often getting the feeling that it was about her.

"Um guys? Can we go outside? I want to do something."

Lindsay looked up in a way that made her look like she was saying something very important before Ruby had interrupted. Michael had a similar look before smiling.

"Where do you think we should go?"

Ruby thought for a second, thinking of all the wonderful places she'd seen out the window of the car.

"What about that Starbucks place? We could just walk around the city."

"Sure kid. Just let me get my jacket and we'll head out."

Ruby smiled, grateful to find that the tension had been partially relieved. Lindsay decided to stay behind since she had some work to do. Grabbing a red hoodie and her Achievement Hunter beanie, she skipped out the door with Michael.

The car drive was quite uneventful, a long but comfortable silence drawing out between the two. Michael concentrated on not crashing into anything and Ruby looked out the window from the passenger seat.

"Traffic's a bitch," Michael muttered, rolling down the window to let some air come in. It was nearing the end of Texas' not-very cold winters but it was still colder than usual.

Michael pulled into a parking spot next to the crowded café that was Starbucks. It was around noon, and business wasn't as busy as it was in the mornings but the smell of coffee brought about a dozen college students running.

Ruby suddenly became very uncomfortable with all these tall seniors mingling. Some weren't even buying coffee, just taking advantage of the free Wi-Fi. This would've been the worst place for someone with claustrophobia.

"What do you want to get?"

Ruby looked up at the menus, gaping at how extensive it was. Some of the words she didn't even understand. Realizing that a bunch of teenagers were giggling at her shocked expression, she quickly closed her mouth. Michael gave them a glare that shut them up.

"I don't know?" Ruby squeaked, making the statement sound like a question.

"I'll pick then."

"Okay."

She clung close to Michael, whipping her head around at every body that bumped into her small and almost un-seeable frame. She hoped Michael didn't notice, but then he had brought his arm around to push her in front of him where there weren't as much people.

It was only when she was outside of the café, she realized her breaths were coming in unnaturally fast rates. Michael held her close with one arm, the other holding two drinks.

"Man, you are socially awkward."

"Sorry."

Michael frowned and handed her a drink, "Don't apologize."

"Oh okay. Sorry."

They returned to the car, Ruby ignoring Michael's second frown. Taking a sip of the drink, Ruby finally cracked a smile.

"I like it."

Michael smiled back and tapped the straw she was sipping from, "Cream and five sugars right?"

Ruby blushed and he laughed, driving away from the rowdy store that was Starbucks.

 _"Ugh, look at that store. Tacky and unsophisticated."_

Ruby looked worriedly at the image of Weiss beside her, Michael walking on her other side.

"What are you doing here?" Ruby whispered quietly.

 _"I'm here to jump around and play. No! I'm here to investigate this disgusting place!"_

Ruby tried desperately to ignore the complaining Ice Queen. Even with Kara's words still stuck firmly in her head, she could not find any evidence of Kara's explanation from the Schnee heiress.

They were walking mindlessly through the mall, Ruby occasionally pointing out an interesting shop that piqued her interest. Michael was nodding and talking to her, his phone in his hand. Ruby was enjoying the time she had with the man that took her in, until a familiar Ice Queen appeared.

"Lindsay just called. Said she wants to buy some new clothes for you."

 _"Um, absolutely not. You are not going into that disease ridden store,"_ Weiss snapped, looking up at the logo of a store named _Target_.

Ruby was about to reply before Michael walked into the very store Weiss was pointing at. Looking away from Weiss' horrified face, she followed Michael into the store. Michael didn't pay any attention to the flashing signs that demanded him to buy another pillow or shirt. After a few seconds of silent walking, apart from Weiss' occasional exclamations of disgust, they arrived at what looked like the girl's clothes aisle.

Looking at the wide selection of clothes, Ruby was sure she wouldn't be able to pick one with Weiss looking over her shoulder. Michael noticed her hesitance and tossed a shirt over at Ruby.

"Just pick one. Or I'll pick for you and you'll have nothing but jeans and polo shirts."

Ruby saw Weiss shudder at the sight of the shirt. Ruby shrugged at Michael.

"They'll be fine."

"You sure? There sure as hell ain't any combat skirts here."

Weiss looked shocked, before glaring at the smirking Jersey man, _"wha-who is this guy again?"_

Ruby smiled back at Michael before grabbing a jacket that looked her size. Michael searched through the hangers, taking a few that looked small enough to fit Ruby.

Putting all of these clothes into the basket, Michael wandered off to another aisle for more. Ruby watched him go, holding her breath until he disappeared from sight.

"Why are you here?" she whispered to the heiress, the latter offering her a box of sanitary wipes.

 _"I'm here to get you away from these unsanitary pieces of clothing."_

"It's not like they have any diseases or anything."

 _"How do you know that? Who knows what kind of disgusting specimen wore those things."_

Ruby was mildly offended at her new-found friends being called disgusting, but before she could defend her saviors, Michael reappeared, empty handed.

Ruby wondered briefly about his apparently unsuccessful search until Michael picked up the basket. He smiled encouragingly, noticing Ruby's worried look.

She silently followed Michael to the register, not trusting herself to speak just in case her words accidently revealed the existence of the image of Weiss.

Lindsay may or may not have told a somewhat true lie.

It was true she had work to do, but she had other priorities to worry about instead of the half-finished footage for this week's videos. One of the priorities was being on the phone for an hour, listening to Matt's apparently glorious solution.

To be frank, the plan didn't sound too bad. It might've even been the most logical, yet insane plan that Matt had ever made. Not mention that Matt was rejoicing over the fact that he had proved that, against Burnie's belief, that he wasn't on some sort of drug.

"Fuck Burnie! Creative Director my ass!"

Not to mention she was also worried about what Michael told her. There might be a slight chance that Ruby might be going crazy. For all she knew, the girl might be depressed.

Or schizophrenic. Although she did doubt that Ruby, the girl who loved cookies and was usually extremely hyper-active, could even try to act like a secluded and quiet teen.

Against her judgement, she didn't tell Matt about the things happening in the Jones' household. It was rather difficult to lie when Matt ask how she was doing.

"She's fine, I guess. Ruby's out with Michael right now."

After she held back the information from Matt, she passed on the plan to her husband, who had been in the middle of clothes shopping. Thankfully, he was a few aisles away from Ruby, effectively keeping their secret plan from the one that was affected by it the most.

Sure, it did affect the Jones' to a rather high level, but in comparison to Ruby's current situation, their predicament was miniscule. Michael was hesitant about it, but agreed after being told that it was for Ruby's sake, not theirs.

Now, they just had to find a way to convince her. Lindsay didn't know how Ruby would even react. Best case scenario, she would jump and squeal for joy, but that didn't seem remotely possible. That outcome would probably lead to Lindsay and Michael bringing her to the doctor to be tested for insanity.

As if she wasn't insane already.

Lindsay was almost positive that Ruby would be better off if she'd met a normal couple instead. Not that she disliked her, it was just that if a fan knew about her existence, the internet would go crazy. Obviously, there was the chance that their claims would be shrugged off. Convincing yourself was hard enough, but convincing the internet? Unlikely, but possible.

Matt had everything going. He was ready to act out the plan as soon as Ruby, Michael and Lindsay could agree with it. And to be honest, Lindsay wasn't completely sure if Ruby even wanted to agree with the plan.

And the plan didn't even include her going to back Remnant! It was only a quick fix, a disguise to wear until they actually found a way. Until then, this was the plan to go to, but even the solution was outlandish.

Lindsay could only imagine the confusion it caused Ruby. To suddenly be thrust into a world that was not her own wasn't something that she could ever had prepared for. But she was glad for the chance to get to know the character she helped create. It was only a shame that Monty couldn't.


	14. End of the Beginning

**A/N Been a while huh?**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY**

 **EDIT: Formatting is hard :P**

* * *

 **Remnant**

"I'm sorry."

It was the first word to have been spoken between them apart from Yang's whispered apologies to the comatose Ruby.

This apology wasn't from Yang's mouth, but from the girl's polar opposite, the Schnee heiress.

Blake blinked, staring blankly into space. For a second, Weiss wondered if Blake even heard her say anything, but the distant loner turned her head to face Weiss, her mouth slightly agape.

It wasn't every day that the ice cold teen would say sorry. A flaw she saw in herself was that she couldn't, for the life of her, admit that she wasn't leagues better than someone.

Now, she wasn't sure.

At first, Weiss had been slightly taken aback at her first impression of Blake. Threatened, almost. Intimidated enough to walk away with a huff, concealing her surprise.

It hurt that she was being recognized as a conceited little girl just because of her last name. And sometimes, she admits she was acting that way too. Just because of her upbringing.

"Are you happy now?"

Blake's lips pursed, "Don't even try. It happened. We can't change it."

Weiss let out a frustrated sigh. She didn't mean for it to come out that way.

"That was stupid. Out there. We… I was being stupid."

"I…" Blake trailed off, her gaze wandering. Weiss wondered for a second if she had said the wrong thing. Seconds turned into minutes, and now Weiss was certain she had said the wrong thing.

It took a moment to realize that Blake was not ignoring Weiss, but calmly observing their team leader.

Her still body seemed out of place. She was supposed to be moving, jumping around excitedly. Blake never thought she'd see the day when Ruby would run out of energy. Now, it seemed like it was potentially going to be gone forever.

Just a still corpse of a hyperactive child.

Yang fell asleep at Ruby's side, clutching her hand as if it was a lifeline. Blake was glad that she could finally get some rest. And partially glad that Yang closed her eyes so that Blake couldn't see the spark in her eyes fade away.

When they had got here, the bed sheets were covered with Ruby's blood, somewhat dried out into the cloth. The nurses, rather hesitantly, switched out the sheets for white ones, stashing the red soaked material into a trashcan.

She had always seen death around her as a child. The faces of the faunus she had met were some she could never see again. Most of them had already faded from her memory.

Sometimes she regretted not paying attention to those features at all. The color of a certain faunus' hair or the length of a tail. The special eye color they'd possessed dulled until it was just accepted as a stationary color like black or brown.

It was getting harder to remember Adam's face in the times he had taken off his mask. Before he became a psychopath.

Yet strangely enough, she wished that she could never see him again, because she knew she would have to fight him.

That was the duty of a huntress.

It took a while to notice that she had completely ignored Weiss' apology. She whipped her head back again at the heiress.

And looking at the thoughtful face of the Schnee, she wondered.

How on Remnant did she manage to befriend her former enemy? It confused her.

But perhaps they were not a different as they had thought. Blake lost her faunus comrades, Weiss lost her family relatives.

Maybe amidst this fighting and war, Faunus and Humans were not as different as people thought.

They needed more people like that. People like Professor Ozpin who blurred the line between the two species. People like Yang who would willingly befriend a person regardless of their heritage. People like Ruby that were so simple yet so rare. People who accepted.

Weiss noticed that Blake was just staring blankly at her. She looked at the faunus with a questioning look.

Blake gave the heiress a rare smile, "Okay."

It was enough.

Qrow took a long gulp of the admittedly lackluster alcohol in his hand. It had been a few hours since he had gotten the text, and he had retreated to his favorite bar to pass the time.

Instead of getting his favorite drink, he opted for the strongest he could find. The bartender happily handed over some of the bottles that have been collecting dust in storage.

Guess he had another reason to go back to Beacon.

"Getting a bit tipsy?"

Qrow scoffed, "Nah. Got anything else stronger than this?"

The bartender laughed, patting the hunter on the shoulder, "You're kidding right? That's the strongest we've got."

"Right…"

"So… Got something happening at home? Maybe lady troubles?"

Qrow glared at the smiling man before taking another swig.

"If you're calling my 15 year old niece a lady."

"Oh… teens right? I got you."

"My niece is dying," Qrow snarled.

The bartender was silent before he continued polishing the glass in his hand.

"She's _dying_."

It hurt.

It shouldn't hurt. The elixir always worked. Why did it hurt?

 _"Ruby is dying."_

"Look sir. I can see you're suffering. Maybe you should take a breather outside or something?"

Qrow repeated his statement again, the words sounding cold and soulless on his tongue. It hurt to inhale the oxygen to say the statement again. It hurt to toss his pain out into the air for everyone to see.

"Sir?"

Then he laughed, a dark chuckle escaping his lips. He shouldn't have been complacent. He should've taught her how to escape the clutches of death.

 _"Qrow?_

 _"I'm fine."_

 _"No you're not. Let me help you."_

 _"Just leave me alone."_

 _"But-"_

 _"Summer…"_

She looked exactly like her.

 **Earth**

They had stopped to get some fuel on the way home.

Ruby had put on her new earphones and plugged it into her phone, with Michael's help. Ruby spent some time scrolling through the songs she'd downloaded. Surprisingly, the phone was rather similar to the scrolls back on Remnant. She did prefer holographic screens instead of glass though.

Shrugging slightly, she picked at random and switched the phone off with a press of a button.

 _"They see you as small and helpless. They see you as just a child. Surprised when they find out that a warrior will soon run wild!"_

A huge smile broke out on her face. Her favorite song! Ruby couldn't help but sing along with the lyrics.

 _"Prepare for your greatest moments. Prepare for your finest hour. The dream that you've always dreamed is suddenly about to flower!"_

Michael tapped on the window suddenly, making Ruby jump in shock. Slipping off her earphones, she saw him give her a weird look.

Ruby smiled back in reply, before putting her earphones back on.

She frowned when she realized that she had missed the next few lines, but instead started rocking out to the chorus.

 _"This will be the day we've waited for.  
This will be the day we open up the door.  
I don't wanna hear your absolution,  
hope you're ready for a revolution.  
Welcome to a world of new solutions.  
Welcome to a world of bloody evolution.  
In time, your heart will open minds.  
A story will be told,  
and victory is in a simple soul!"_

Ruby laughed, fixing her hair. She could Michael giving her another weird look as he refilled the fuel tank.

 _"Your world needs a great defender. Your world's in the way of harm. You want a romantic life, a fairytale that's full of charm!"_

Huh. That's strange. She never remembered a second verse. Nonetheless, she still danced in her seat listening to the lyrics so she could rock out to it later.

 _"Beware that the light is fading. Beware as the dark returns. This world's unforgiving, even brilliant lights will cease to burn!"_

 _The lyrics…_ she thought, her unladylike dance slowing as she concentrated hard to separate the words from the blasting guitar.

 _"Legends scatter. Day and night will sever. Hope and peace are lost forever."_

This song's darker than she'd originally thought. The awesomeness of the first verse practically spelled out why she wanted to be a huntress, but as the song progressed, it didn't seem like the fairytale she'd imagined.

Is this what she'd wanted?

"Hey kid!"

Ruby took off the earphones again as the last chorus ended.

"Yes?"

Michael had reappeared in the driver's seat next to her, shaking her shoulder to get her attention.

"What 'cha doin'?"

Ruby glanced down at the phone in her hand, stopping the still rather loud music from playing through her earphones.

"Nothing. Just… looking through some stuff."

"I'm sorry Ozpin. But this is what is needed to keep our people safe."

Ozpin stared blankly at Ironwood, taking another casual sip of his coffee. He hated that, how he seemed so unconcerned with… everything.

"Are you even listening to me?"

It frustrated him. Instead of sending fully qualified scouts to the south-east, Ozpin sent four first year students and an overly hyperactive history teacher with them.

Unacceptable.

"The students you sent weren't ready for a full blown attack. They were unexperienced, and you failed to judge them so."

"They prevented the Breach from escalating further. Without them interrupting the attack, it could've been even more devastating. Instead of focusing on the amount of injuries, think about the lives they saved," Ozpin replied evenly.

His eyes finally focused on Ironwood's.

"It was under control."

Ironwood slammed his prosthetic fist into Ozpin's desk, shaking the liquid inside of his coffee mug. A few droplets fell out, and he took the time to frown at the loss of fluid, angering Ironwood even more.

"While you're here 'focusing' on the positives, I'm here to fix the negatives. All four of your students were injured along with countless Atlesian Knights and the people of Vale. You can't escape from the outcomes of your decision, Ozpin."

Ozpin was silent. Ironwood unclenched his fist and strode out of the office, believing that he had made his point. Before the elevator began to descend, he heard Ozpin's scroll ringing, signaling that someone wanted to communicate with him.

Waiting until James had left, Ozpin answered the call.

"Taiyang."

"Ozpin," the blonde man growled with an obvious hint of anger in his voice.

"It's been a while."

"Where the hell is my daughter?"

"Safe at Beacon. A few cuts and bruises, nothing a few days can heal. Unless of course, you mean Ruby, who is currently comatose in the infirmary."

Ozpin listed off their injuries like he was discussing the weather. Matter-of-factly and easily. Not like he was pointing out why she could die.

"I'm on the first flight to Vale. I'll arrive there tomorrow."

"Qrow?"

Taiyang laughed. "Haven't seen him for ages. Probably hitting a club somewhere."

Qrow had gone dark a few weeks ago, according to James. Although, he did doubt that Ironwood even tried to contact him.

"Let's cut to the chase here, Oz," Taiyang said seriously, his persona taking an immediate turn around. Ozpin nodded and nudged away his now cold coffee.

"I want to cancel Yang and Ruby's enrollment at Beacon."

Ozpin blinked one or two times, before responding.

"No."

"What kind of answer is that? I wish to terminate their admission into Beacon. Is that hard for you to understand?"

"I brought Ruby and Yang to Beacon for a reason. Their ability as huntresses can benefit Vale, and even Remnant."

"What use are they to the world when they are dead? I know you Ozpin. I trust you, but this is not about Vale or Remnant. This is about me and the safety of _my_ children."

"Enrollment at Beacon cannot be redacted. Teams have already been decided. We can't have a team of two now, could we?"

Taiyang shook his head at the distasteful question.

"Even if I could cancel their entry at Beacon, I hardly believe that Yang and Ruby would give up their dreams just for your approval."

"Please. As a father. And as your friend."

Taiyang looked so broken. He wouldn't be able to handle another death.

But while the Queen lives and Grimm exists, nobody can be safe from the darkness that knock on their doors.

"I'm sorry, Taiyang. But let me ask you this. Would you rather stand by them in their final moments, or abandon them for a second time?"

Jaune returned from the cafeteria, trying to balance 4 trays of food in his arms. He contemplated getting his shield out to carry them all easily, but to his quiet dismay, he had left his shield in his room.

He had probably left a lot of stuff in his room as well. His empty wallet, his sword, the packet of gum he carried just in case Weiss came by, oh and his scro-

Ah nuts.

He locked himself out again.

Jaune tried to slide the 4 trays onto the ground safely, only to unsuccessfully spill half of Ren's lighter tray onto the carpet.

He checked his pockets again, only confirming his fears. He dug his hand deeper into his back pocket, hoping that for some miracle that his scroll had magically shrunk down a size that could hide in the deepest corners of his jean pockets.

Nope. All he found was a few balls of lint.

For some unsettlingly weird reason, the whole situation sounded kind of familiar.

Shrugging it off, he proceeded to knock on team RWBY's door.

He had given permission for Ruby to carry the JNPR dorms passcode around, just in case Jaune had forgotten his scroll again. Maybe if she was he-

Oh, right.

Realizing his mistake too late, the door opened, revealing a tired Weiss.

Her hair was somewhat damp, as if she'd just taken a shower. The bags under her eyes almost made Jaune look away.

"What?" Weiss snapped, a bit too harshly. Jaune had flinched away too fast to notice her slight wince.

"I-um-was-just-here-to-um-ask-Ruby-something-but-I-figured-that-she-wasn't-here-oh-well-sorry-Weiss-gotta-go-goodbye!"

"No you dork! Get back here!"

Jaune was already halfway down the hallway when he had heard Weiss' order. His mother always told him to never disobey a woman's command so he cautiously returned back outside team RWBY's dorm.

"Y-yes?"

Weiss looked like she was weighing her options. Jaune was sure she was about to choose the angry yelling option.

Her light blue eyes caught Jaune's nervousness. Sighing weakly, she leaned against the frame of the door.

"So… how have you been?"

Jaune's mouth fell open, and after realizing that he had lost control of moving his jaw he lifted a hand up to close it.

Was Weiss… having an actual conversation with him?

Jaune, in his surprise and obliviousness, didn't notice Weiss getting even more uncomfortable as the situation progressed.

Weiss hadn't caught up with team JNPR or Sun or Neptune.

"Well… I suppose it's a bad time to bring up that we've been preparing for the Vytal festival?"

Weiss scowled. "Yes, a very bad time."

"Right…"

The awkward silences became more frequent.

"Look, I just really wanted to say that I'm sorry that you can't participate. We were looking forward to a RWBY-JNPR fight."

Weiss allowed a small unnoticed smile break through.

"Ruby was excited for that. I made sure not to get her hopes up, but we did try to make some strategies to counteract Pyrrha."

"I guess I should come visit sometime. We've just been so busy."

"It's alright."

Weiss wasn't sure if Jaune wanted to see the light in Yang's eyes fade away every single day.

"How's… Neptune?"

Somehow, the pang in his chest whenever she mentioned the blue haired boy didn't seem to matter anymore.

"He's good, I think. Sun's been trying to prepare his team too so I understand why he hasn't come to see you."

"Wonderful."

Jaune's eyes was drawn to the sleeping animal behind Weiss. It looked like the same corgi that Jaune had spotted in the aircraft a few weeks ago.

"What was Ruby to you?"

Jaune's attention was brought back to Weiss. Stammering more than a few times, he finally stuttered out an answer.

"She-uh-she's kinda like a little sister. Like a stronger, more powerful and wiser sister. Honestly, it feels like I'm two years younger than her."

"Was it me?"

"What?"

"Did I do this? Was I just so bad of a partner that I couldn't save her?"

Jaune always thought of Weiss as a confident woman. Now, confidence wasn't something that he could see in her now. Her gaze was almost pleading, like she needed someone to tell her that she didn't.

Weiss always thought she knew what she wanted. Even with her relatives disappearing every now and then, she was always given all that she wanted, even if it was temporary for a while. Except it wasn't what she wanted.

Now she knew what she wanted, but it might not be granted.

"Nope."

"No?"

"Not at all. I think that Ruby would just beat you over the head for thinking that way."

"But-"

"Ruby wouldn't blame you. She wouldn't hate anyone. That's just how she is."

Jaune could still see the uncertainty in Weiss' eyes. The look he saw every day in the mirror.

"You're not a failure, and you can't be because your team leader isn't one. She didn't lead you to become this way, so you shouldn't be."

"I…"

"Have a good day Weiss. Say hi to Ruby for me."

And then he closed the door.

It felt exhilarating to pass on the knowledge Ruby had given him to others. He could only hope that Weiss would feel the same like he did after that talk beside JNPR's door.

The locked door didn't seem like a problem anymore. Jaune felt like he succeeded.

And he could only hope that Ruby did too.

 **Earth**

She didn't.

Success was a subjective term. What was success anyway? And how do you achieve it?

It all seemed so far away. Like she wasn't someone special anymore. All of those things she achieved on Remnant didn't even matter anymore.

She didn't move up 2 years to Beacon, one of the most prestigious schools in the world. She didn't behead a Nevermore on her initiation. She didn't lead a team.

Everything that made her _her_ was gone. Gone was the weapons dork. Gone was the awkward girl who blew herself up on her first day.

She didn't get to know Weiss or Blake. She didn't befriend team JNPR. She never met Sun, Neptune or Penny.

Everything was gone now. Maybe they didn't even exist anymore.

And somehow, that hurt more.

It had been a month.

A month since Ray left. A month since she had met Samantha, Jen, Shannon and a bunch of other people she couldn't think of from the top of her head. A month since trips to the office and existing on Earth became the norm.

But most importantly, it had been a month since she became Ruby Jones.

It was strange, changing her last name. It felt almost disrespectful. She had her name switch from Xiao Long to Rose since her mom died. But compared to everything else she'd lost about herself, her name seemed insignificant.

Michael and Lindsay were worried about this fact. "You don't have to change it too much. You could be Ruby Rose Jones if you wanted to."

But Ruby knew that if that somehow got out, her life would become even more drastically different than it was before.

Michael and Lindsay tried to make Earth seem as similar to Remnant as possible, tried to make the change easier. But the more time she spent here, it seemed that Remnant was the fictional world instead of Earth.

She felt alien, but then again, didn't. That made absolutely no sense.

"Hello everyone, and welcome to Game Kids!"

"Today we are joined by Michael, Lindsay and Ruby Jones!"


	15. Interlude

**A/N Very short interlude. Next chapter will be the first of the second arc. This time, with a confirmed release date of one/two days from now!**

* * *

 **INTERLUDE**

I know that I'm never going back. I know that it's impossible.

I know that.

So why can't I let them go?

They're still here. They come every time I'm alone in the house, away from Michael and Lindsay, away from everyone else. Sometimes they reappear in random places, where I'll be happily talking to Millie or Gavin.

They'll smile and cut in with a joke or pun that'll make me want to burst out laughing. They would hug me, tease me and ruffle my hair knowing that they can't do a thing to me.

They'll constantly force me to do better than I thought I could ever achieve, and watch me with a proud smile knowing that I'm finally doing things.

They'll sit quietly, maybe even read a book, while I talk aimlessly for hours. Or sometimes we'd just sit in silence.

I want to ask them why they're doing this. Why they're making me laugh until my sides hurt, work until I fall asleep on my desk and cherish my freedom.

But I know the answer. I know why they're here.

It's because I miss them.

Sometimes I'd find myself repeating our names together, to make sure I'd never forget how I said it and how they said it, even if there was an entire show that revolved around us. It wasn't accurate. It didn't show how many times Weiss helped with my work. It didn't show how much Yang cared for me. Hell, it didn't even show Blake and me interacting since our first meeting.

It didn't show how much I loved them. How much I needed them.

I wanted to remember the little things.

I didn't want to forget us.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry I almost forgot you.


	16. Act 2 - The Reprieve

**A/N The first part of this is mostly from a video called "Let's Do Laundry!" from Michael's personal channel, LtMkilla. And it's glorious.**

* * *

 **ACT TWO – CHAPTER ONE**

Ruby froze when she saw him there.

Michael 'Rage Quit' Vincent Jones, had his phone out in one hand and half of his body inside the washing machine.

It was way too early for any of this.

Dropping her jacket into the basket, she watched in utter disbelief as he poured a bottle of washing liquid onto his jeans. Looking down at the floor, she saw blobs of different assortments of sauce all scattered around spastically.

She was about to back away slowly when Michael spotted her figure in the doorway.

"Hey Ruby! Come and join me!"

Ruby blinked at him, her mouth gaping. He shifted his body so that he could move his camera around to capture Ruby's motionless form. Michael grins, waiting for an answer.

Ruby closed her hanging jaw and approached Michael, almost afraid that he was going to fall into the washing machine and drown.

"I'm cleaning."

She nods, giggling at the absurd position he was in, "I can see that."

"I put the loading size to large and it still won't fit me," Michael whined, putting his ketchup stained hands on the panel of knobs and buttons.

He wiped some tomato sauce onto some of the buttons, effectively turning the machine off.

"Help me get out. I need to clean my jeans."

"Why don't you use the bathtub?" Ruby suggested, holding Michael as he climbed out of the machine. As he did so, water and some weird mixtures of sauces fell to the floor.

Ruby laughed at his expression as he stared at the puddle he made on the floor.

"Oh god. Oh GOD! I'm going to get divorced!"

Looking up at the giggling Ruby, he gave her a look of terror.

"What the fuck!?"

He rubbed down at his jeans, trying to wipe off the weird concoctions. Looking up at his adopted daughter, he whined desperately, "Help me!"

Always willing to help, Ruby crossed the puddle -which was not the color that she was expecting at all- and laughed, half at Michael and half at the shocked faces of her friends.

Weiss stayed back, far away from Michael as Ruby led him to the bathroom. Giving Blake an exasperated look, she followed and stopped in her tracks after seeing a fully clothed Michael lounging on a steadily growing bed of water.

"When there's a problem, there's always a solution! Thanks to my awesome buddy Ruby!" He laughed gleefully.

Looking like it was a normal Wednesday morning, Ruby poured the bottle of clothes soap on top of Michael's jeans as he continued his commentary.

"And here we have our very own homemade laundry machine! Look, it's coming right off!"

"Now we have to simulate the stirring of the washing machine," Ruby said, putting the almost empty bottle of soap on the ground.

Michael started to kick his legs around, splashing water everywhere as he tried to imitate the circular motion of the laundry machine, effectively getting some of the sauce off and making Blake walk out of the bathroom in fear of getting wet.

"Oh shit! I dropped my wedding ring."

Ruby turned the tap off, smiling a bit as he searched for the expensive piece of jewelry with a look of absolute distress. She heard a soft sigh and the telltale sound of face palming behind her.

"I've made a mess in the laundry room, and lost my ring. She's definitely going to divorce me."

With growing amusement, she watched as he stood up in the bathtub, soaking wet, and tried to search for his ring.

"Ru~uby! Lindsay's going to kick me out! Who's going to be your dad now?"

To the future viewers of the video that Michael was inevitably going to upload on his channel, nobody would've payed as much attention to the statement. Ruby, however, caught the careful accentuation in his last sentence.

Matching Michael's casual tone, she replied with a teasing grin and kept her hands out of the bathtub, to Weiss' approval and Yang's dejected "aw".

"Nah," she said. Then burst out laughing when Michael tripped over.

* * *

It took so long for Michael to adjust to things.

Sure, he had to cut out a few choice words from every single Game Kids episode, but the fact that there was another human being to take care of in the house was more than enough.

Ruby finally started calling the spare bedroom her room and had to go through many weeks of Lindsay and Michael jokingly telling her to go to her room. Turns out Ruby was more or less a mischievous kid, often going to Gavin and Meg's without permission.

Lindsay shrugged it off, knowing fully well that if Ruby can kill monsters for a living, she can deal with a few roughhouses. Michael, contrast to his camera personality, cared more than he wanted to show.

Michael didn't dare to even mention the word 'Dad' after that one time in the bathroom. Lindsay was the same way, and it was probably a good thing.

Other than a few instances, Ruby pretty much just stayed inside, playing video games with her new mom and dad.

Ruby didn't really have time to play games back in Beacon, too busy with schoolwork and Crescent Rose maintenance to pay attention. A few games of Remnant: The Board Game with team RWBY in their weekends and that was it. She definitely missed playing tournaments of Total Annihilation with her family back in Patch.

"I'm the blue one."

"We know," Lindsay and Ruby groaned as Michael reminded them of the fact again.

"I'm just reiterating!"

"You don't have to do it every single time."

"But I have to!" Michael whined, "It's like tradition at this point."

"Is it also tradition for us to kill you every single time?"

"Yes!" He exulted.

Lindsay shook her head while throwing a punch to Michael's arm. He rubbed the sore spot with a distressed whine.

Castle Crashers had proved to become Ruby's favorite game to play with her new family, often recording bits of their gameplay for Game Kids (with a few technical difficulties to cut out the parts where Michael and Lindsay screamed out a few curses whenever a lone projectile knocked their characters to the ground).

Sometimes Gavin and Meg would come over and play a couple of games of Mario Party where Ruby would just sit back and watch them yell ridiculously offensive things to each other like she wasn't even there.

It was hilarious.

Four grown men and woman, two of which were her parents, acting like children. But then again, you could say that for almost every employee at Rooster Teeth.

"Buh-But Michael!" Gavin squealed when Michael slapped his remote out of his hands with a laugh.

"Eat shit, Gavin!"

After Mario Party, Gavin and Meg decided to stay for a bit. Meg wanted to invite Ryan, but Gavin reasoned that he was busy with his kids, unaware of Michael's snickering.

Lindsay hummed a tuneless song as she drove down the street to grab a couple of pizzas for their impromptu dinner.

"Why?"

Lindsay blinked, turning away from the road to face her surrogate daughter in the backseat. "What?"

"Oh! Um…" Ruby jumped, looking sheepish. "N-nevermind."

Lindsay narrowed her eyes, looking back to the road to make sure they weren't crashing or anything. "You know, if something's bothering you, you could just talk to me." She tried confidently. As most people would tell her, she was someone who would tell the wrong answer in the most confident way possible.

Jeez, this parenting thing was tough. Lindsay was the kind of person who'd not give a fuck, but now she has to be all protective and shit. Weird.

"Well, uh."

"Ruby." She tried again, sounding more sternly.

Her tone must've surprised Ruby because of the "eep" she let out, and the dull 'thunk' in the backseat didn't exactly fill her with confidence.

"Sorry… I'm still a bit new to this whole… fancy parenting thingy. Man, let me tell you. Raising kids are pretty damn tiring. No wonder why Ryan's losing all that hair."

"Sorry…"

"Don't apologize. It's not your fault. At least you're not like a three year-old or something. Just gotta worry about you blowing up a car station."

Lindsay turned back with a smirk. "For the other people that is. I don't think you'll have a problem."

"I don't think I'm allowed to though."

"Are you kidding?" Lindsay spluttered, "Of course you're not. The entire city would probably think that there's another terrorist attack or something. Imagine if you started shooting Crescent Rose in schools, that'll cause an uproar."

"…Can I use Crescent Rose?"

"What do you think?"

"No?"

Lindsay gave her a sound of approval. Ruby pouted and opened her mouth to give her a rebuttal when Lindsay cut her off.

"Gavin and Meg were thinking about sending you on a trip."

"A trip? You're not sending me away?"

"I wish." The smirk on Lindsay's face and the sarcasm that was dripping off her words told Ruby that she was joking.

"A trip to where?"

"Eh, just somewhere around Texas. That way, we'll be there by the afternoon if you blow something up."

Ruby giggled, "You really have no faith in me."

"I trust you!" Lindsay insisted. "Just not with explosives and Crescent Rose. They're think of sending you on a trip with Kara, Arryn and Barbara."

Lindsay heard nothing before Ruby finally made the connection.

"Ohh!"

"Yep."

"Well…"

"It'll be fun. They really want to get to know you better. Not just in the show but for everything else."

Ruby nodded, even though she knew that Lindsay couldn't see it from the front seat. Usually she'd talk with Miles and Kerry, but she always got the feeling that they were looking for ways to incorporate her tendencies into the show.

Not that she didn't like Miles and Kerry, she did like them. They had their own way of talking with each other and never failed to make her laugh.

"Anyways, what did you want to ask me?"

Ruby fidgeted, looking down at her fingers. "Right, uh, heh."

Lindsay waited patiently. It was blatantly clear that she wasn't going to drop the subject, even as the flustered young girl tried to stall for time in the backseat.

"Well… We don't have Grimm right?"

"Right."

"So, uh, why are there wars and stuff? I hear all about it on the news and you mentioned a terrorist attack earlier. Without the Grimm, what causing all of that?"

Jesus Christ, this kid just loves bringing up tough topics, Lindsay thought wryly as she searched for an answer.

"It really shows that even if those guys in Remnant wipe out the Grimm, there's still going to be some negativity. I guess it's just human nature. We fight and complain because we just do. It's the same with Remnant, except it's on a larger range because they've got superpowers and awesome weapons."

Ruby chewed on her lip before replying, "But… Why though?"

"Some questions just can't be answered, Ruby. People are different, we have different beliefs, religions and races."

"But we don't have the Faunus!"

"You know how people look different in terms of color? That's how some people discriminate. Some people think that a white man is superior to a black man. It's complicated."

Ruby spluttered in disbelief, "That's stupid! Why would you do that? It's the same thing with the Faunus too! I'd love to have kitty ears."

Lindsay laughed, "You and me both, kid."

* * *

It was often times like this, when she was alone in the house that they would appear.

Michael and Lindsay went to work. Believe it or not, Rooster Teeth still counted as work even with the constant Nerf Gun fights and shading on Twitter.

A pat on the head and a few words of warning, they left the house as early as 8am. Sometimes she'd come, excited at the prospect of seeing her friends in the office.

And sometimes she wouldn't, smiling at her new parents as they drove out the driveway.

It was often times like this when she would question her own sanity. Wonder if she was insane, or crazy.

But it eventually boiled down to one simple reason.

She missed them.

All of them.

 _"Ya miss me?"_ Yang's voice rang out from behind her.

Ruby smiled, looking down at her laptop that was now newly decorated with RWBY stickers.

"Yeah," she replied simply. Her sister grinned and sat, cross-legged beside her on the bed. Ruby was silent for a while, wanting to pour her heart out to Yang but still knowing that she was in fact not real.

 _"There's not much to do here."_

"Not really," Ruby agreed.

 _"Hey, why don't we revisit some of our old times in Beacon, huh? Decorating!"_

"Or just me. You know. Since you're like a ghost."

Yang put her right hand through the wall with a grin, _"Ooooh, spoooky ghooost."_

"Alright, alright." Ruby grumbled.

In true Ruby fashion, her room was pretty much a jumbled mess. Her bed was always the messiest in the dorms back in Beacon and Earth was no exception to her neglect.

Ruby started by picking up a black and red jacket that Gavin bought off eBay. A few rose prints later, and the jacket really seemed like something Ruby would wear.

 _"That looks pretty awesome. Gavin's been spoiling you since the end of time."_

"He's my uncle now."

 _"Too bad he doesn't have a scythe."_

Putting on the jacket after Yang's pressing, Ruby continued forward in rummaging the pile of clothes in her room. Yang disappeared at some point between her fourth and fifth trip to the laundry, but was replaced by someone else familiar.

 _"I should've known. You bring your mess everywhere."_

"Thanks for the confidence boost, Weiss."

 _"No problem, there's nothing much I can do beside moral support!"_

Ruby was about to toss a few shirts in the laundry before Weiss pointed something out.

 _"Those are clean if I recall. Put it in the closet, I'll get started on the next pile."_

Ruby stood there, staring at the ghostly figure of Weiss with her clean Achievement Hunter T-shirt in her hands.

"But… You can't"

The heiress huffed, _"Yes I can! How do you think I know where you should put them? It's hard being appreciated when you're a figment of someone's imagination."_

Feeling slightly offended, Ruby opened her closet to hang up the clothes inside.

"What's the point of cleaning if it's going to be messed up later on?" Ruby mumbled.

 _"What's the point of cleaning Crescent Rose if you're just going to fire it? Efficiency and the fact that you don't have to get your hands dirty every single time."_

"I haven't used Crescent Rose in a while."

 _"Really? That's a surprise. You're never without that weapon of yours. Seriously, it's becoming a problem. It's like you made yourself a friend, dolt."_

Ruby lifted the lid off Crescent Rose's box, expecting to see the bright red shine of her weapon, only to be greeted by dust and a dull pink color.

 _"Well that's not sanitary at all."_

Ruby looked at her weapon for a while, all of its bits and ammo before closing the lid again.

Hanging up the next few shirts, she turned to see Weiss gaping at her.

"…What?"

 _"Are you Ruby Rose? What have you done to her?"_

"I- uh."

 _"She's right, you know."_ Blake said from her spot on the bed, with her book sitting on her lap.

"Um-"

 _"You've changed Ruby."_

"I-I don't understand."

Yang reappeared, leaning against the drawers beside her window.

"Yang?"

 _"You've grown up so much, Ruby."_

Blake only nodded, _"You don't need us anymore."_

 _"It's only a matter of time,"_ Weiss sighed reluctantly.

"A matter of time? Before what?"

 _"Before you forget about us."_

Ruby's eyes widened in shock. "What are you talking about? I-I won't forget you. You guys are like my family."

 _"You have your own family now, Ruby."_

 _"Yeah."_ Yang smiled sadly.

"B-but you're still here!"

Blake shook her head, amber eyes looking into silver, _"We're only here because you want us here. Because you are so hell bent on keeping us. You've let go of Crescent Rose. You've let go of Remnant. It's time you let us go too."_

Ruby looked at each of her teammates, before her sister hugged her one last time. The hug wasn't real, it couldn't have been, but Ruby swore she felt Yang's warmth envelope her, the imaginary touch suddenly feeling solid for a moment.

And then it was gone.

It was so sudden.

It didn't feel real.

But then again, it was never real in the first place.

* * *

 **Slight notes:**

 **Ruby refers the inhabitants of Earth as "we" now instead of "them".**

 **That one Let's Play with Lindsay and Michael playing Castle Crashers is beautiful.**

 **The Mario Party idea was from Lindsay, Michael, Meg and Gavin's twitter feeds.**

 **Small Ryan/Meg joke because I'd like to think that Meg and Michael would tease Gavin endlessly because of it :D**

 **Wrote almost all of this months ago as small little snippets. I've only just now found a way to tie them all together, which is probably a horrible way to write since it increases the chance of continuity errors (so don't take after me aha).**

 **Link to Laundry Video: watch?v=H-PyAbMVO48**

 **The idea of Ruby being the messiest person in Remnant was taken from the RTX Australia RWBY Panel, which is amazing.**

 **I'm actually surprised that so many of you have stuck on even with my spastic update rates. Thanks for reading all of this!**


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